Description

Alexander Cullen, 1888. 2-storey, 3-bay, asymmetrical gabled, Z-plan Scottish Baronial villa. 2-stage round tower to centre with candle-snuffer roof. Red ashlar sandstone. Base course, continuous cill course to 2nd floor and eaves course,bracketed skewputts. Architraved openings with moulded reveals.

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: advanced gabled bay to right; bipartite window to ground left, small window to right; stone transom to window to upper left, window to gablehead. Angled 2-stage, round entrance tower to centre; bowed 2-leaf panelled door, triangular pediment above, small hoodmoulded window to right; window to 2nd stage; window to ground to bay to left, gabled dormerhead to 1st floor window breaking eaves above, thistle finial.

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: gabled bay to left; small 2-light, triangular-plan, advanced bay to ground of left bay, stone-transomed window to left, stone-mullioned bipartite window to gablehead. Small diamond-shape boss to central bay, small window above. Bipartite window with stone-mullion and transom to outer right bay, gabled dormerhead breaking eaves above, thistle finial.

NW (SIDE) ELEVATION: single storey, flat roof office wing to left, small stepped wall to outer left, 3 arrow-slits to left return. Small 2-light, triangular-plan, advanced bay to right.

SE (SIDE) ELEVATION: regular fenestration.

9-pane upper sashes, plate glass lower in timber sash and case windows, except modern replacements to 2nd stage of tower and 1st floor of advanced gabled bay to front. Grey slates, pantile roof ridge. Coped gable stacks. Moulded cast-iron guttering, bowed hoppers and down pipes.

INTERIOR: circular vestibule to hall, dentil cornice plasterwork, barley sugar balusters to stairs. Jacobethan plasterwork to dining room ceiling, simple cornice to other rooms.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: squared sandstone coursers, dwarf wall with saddle-back coping. Square-plan gate piers terminating in ball finials.

Statement of Interest

The first villa to be built on Orchard Street, no 15 was initially called simply The Orchard. Built for a Mr J D Farley the house passed to the Anderson family in the 1960s who donated it to Brandon Street church, it then passed to Crosshill Parish church in the 1970s who use the house as a manse, though it is at some distance from the church. The gates to the house are taken from Brandon Street church and were made to commemorate its centenary in 1965. The Orchard is one of Cullen's most engaging and satisfying villas. Though in the Scottish Baronial manner of most of his villas, similar to villas by Honeyman and Keppie or AN Paterson, more care has been taken in the proportion and arrangement of the elevations and with the detailing than usual. It compares in quality to Cullen's other outstanding villas, The Ross, Hamilton of two years earlier and Heathery Park, 47 Clelland Rd, Wishaw (see separate listing). Cullen occasionally worked in a Mannerist classical style and also experimented with the Glasgow School at Thornlie Manse, Wishaw (see separate listing) but Scottish Baronial dominated through to his later works such as St Andrews Parish Church, Motherwell, 1904 before his death in 1911.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17826539

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)