Description

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

Circa 1902. 2-storey and attic pair of rectangular-plan, piend-roofed, semi-detached villas, of 2 bays each with deep eaves, bow windows, balcony and piend-roofed dormer windows to front; later single-storey scullery additions to rear. A very well-detailed and relatively unaltered pair of houses that still retain their original front doors and windows. Although set back from the street, they occupy a prominent position on the main road through Strathyre.

Symmetrical 4-bay principal elevation with 2-leaf timber panelled doors in moulded stop-chamfered architraves to central bays and 4-light mullioned bow windows to outer bays. A balcony with decorative railings runs across the 1st floor, supported on the bow windows and a central cast-iron column. There are bipartite mullioned windows to the outer bays of the 1st floor and 2 bipartite piend-roofed dormers to the attic. Corniced, shouldered stacks break through the eaves on the side elevations. The rear elevation is regularly fenestrated and the windows have raised margins and projecting cills.

Interiors: 2 steps to entrance lobbies; half-glazed timber panelled lobby doors with frosted lights. Ceiling arches in halls; timber stairs with turned balusters. Panelled interior doors to both houses.

Materials: squared, snecked, bull-faced, pink sandstone with polished ashlar dressings; rendered to sides and rear. Timber sash and case windows with plate glass glazing to principal rooms and 4-pane glazing elsewhere. The roof has recently (2004) been re-slated with smooth grey slates.

Statement of Interest

According to the owners, this pair of houses was designed for 2 brothers from Inverness in about 1902 or 1903, and were built by a joiner from Rosebank. The exterior detailing and internal woodwork have been executed to a very high standard, as is evident from the excellent masonry work outside and use of cedar for the internal woodwork. Unfortunately no chimneypieces survive in either house. The relatively large amount of accommodation afforded by each house, and the high quality of the internal and external detailing indicates that the houses were intended to be used as guest houses. After the Callander and Oban railway had opened in 1870, Strathyre became a very popular tourist destination, and accommodation for summer tourists was in very high demand.

Mandalay was originally called Aldourie.

There was originally a large shouldered chimney stack between the dormer windows that was removed in the early 1990s.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77778351

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.

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