Description

Circa 1897 with 1909 roof extension by Thomas Hardie, builder. 2-storey and attic square-plan piend-roofed house with deep eaves and flat-roofed roof extension, piend-roofed scullery outshot to NW, canted bay window to SE, bipartite corner windows at first floor to all corners except E; bracketed porch and scrolled wallhead stacks to SW. Squared, snecked, bull-faced sandstone with red sandstone ashlar dressings. Corniced cill course to 1st floor. Long and short quoins to corners, windows, doors and chimneys.

SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: timber panelled front door in stop-chamfered roll-moulded architrave, with bipartite fanlight above lintel; deep timber canopy on scrolled brackets above. Regular fenestration in 3 bays. Large bipartite flat-roofed dormer between scrolled stacks to centre of attic.

OTHER ELEVATIONS: irregularly fenestrated. Large canted bay with leaded lights to SE elevation; transomed and mullioned staircase window with leaded lights to NE elevation; single-storey scullery outshot at left of NW elevation with timber boarded side-door to SW return.

Predominantly sash and case windows with 6-pane glazing in upper sashes and plate glass in lower sashes. Coped and corniced wallhead stacks with red clay cans. Graded grey slate. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: tiled lobby; half-glazed timber panelled lobby door with side-lights and coloured leaded glass. Original cornices to principal rooms. Timber staircase with turned balusters. Coloured leaded glass staircase window. Original fireplace in dining room with bolection-moulded timber chimneypiece and cast-iron grate. Corner windows to 3 upstairs bedrooms with small drawers below interior window cills.

Statement of Interest

Formerly called The Chase. Despite the rather awkward roof extension, this is an interesting house. The windows at the corners of the 1st floor are particularly noteworthy, as they anticipate the corner windows found in Art Deco houses of the 1930s. It is possible that the house is reinforced at the corners with steel or iron joists, but the sturdiness of the sandstone piers suggests that they are load-bearing.

Number 31 stands two doors down from Allermuir, the house that Sir Robert Rowand Anderson built for himself. Anderson purchased and developed a number of feus along Woodhall Road and Barnshot road, and it is possible that he was responsible for the building of this house and the neighbouring one, 29 Woodhall Road. On stylistic grounds, it is unlikely that Anderson actually designed these 2 houses himself ? he probably gave the work to one of his former pupils or assistants.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779968

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)