Description

Attributed to James Graham Fairley. Dated 1886. 2-storey and attic, exuberant multi-gabled L-plan villa with Jacobean Rennaisance detailing, ogee-roofed round tower and prominent bargeboarding. Squared and snecked rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base and string courses; stone-mullioned windows, some with hood moulds; chamfered corners corbelled out at upper level.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: Single-storey entrance porch to NW elevation with timber panelled door flanked by leaded sidelights and decorated bargeboards; staircase window to right; single- storey flat roofed block with balustraded parapet at re-entrant angle; advanced wing with blind gable-end to right. 2-leaf, French door to centre of three-bay SE (garden) elevation; moulded stone surround; projecting ball-finialed balconey above; heavy segmented-arch gable with baroque finial over balconey window; wallhead barley-twist stack to right; 2-storey gabled canted window to left. Ogee-roofed drum tower with tripartite windows to far right; ribbed, leaded roof with ball-finial and weathervane. Upvc conservatory recessed to outer right with ashlar stone plinth and polished brick basement. SW elevation with advanced central gable breaking eaves and square machicolated bartizan with pyramid cap.

Predominantly timber sash and case windows; some leaded casements. Bargeboarded eaves; rosemary tiles; shouldered stacks of various designs with short red clay cans. Cast iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: Some alterations to ground floor room plan with many original fixtures and fittings retained. Engraved ceramic tile floor to entrance vestibule; fine dark-wood staircase with panelling and wainscoting to main hall; principal ground floor rooms contain beaded parquet flooring and elaborate cornicing; dining room with heavily carved Rennaissance fireplace and moulded plasterwork ceiling. Heavy timber moulded surrounds to principal doorways and leaded and frosted internal windows with floral design at stair window; fitted hardwood cupboards. Tongue and groove panelling to attic level walls. Some original porcelain fixtures to upper levels.

GATES, GATEPIERS, BOUNDARY WALLS AND TERRACES: Double-leaf, solid oak Gothic gates to main entrance; chamfered gate piers with fluted banding and moulded octagonal bell caps. Flanking pedestrian gates in wall sweeping down to second set of smaller piers. Tall stone-capped rubble boundary wall facing road with lower boundary walls to North and South extending down to river. Terraced lawn with tennis court and partially walled garden to South of house; sloping ground to North laid to lawn with mature tree-planting.

Statement of Interest

A well-detailed late Victorian Villa situated on high ground overlooking the River Avon. Commisioned by James Lovell, owner of the now demolished Avon Paper Mills in the valley below. R Jaques and C McKean have suggested Glenavon was designed by J G Fairley whose Dundee High School for Girls of the same year demonstrates similarly bold detailing and ornament. There are numerous buildings by Fairley in West Lothian and neighbouring areas including churches, schools and hotels, the schools in particular exhibiting similar detailing. Glenavon makes effective use of the L-plan design, with marked contrast between the plain servants wing and the heavily ornamented main block, emphasising the social division. The non-traditional conservatory occupies the same footprint as the original timber framed conservatory evident in a photograph c.1910 in the possession of the current owner.

Plans to convert a vinery/glasshouse, situated some distance to the NE of the main house, into holiday accommodation have received planning permission (2006). Brick supports belonging to a private wooden foot-bridge across the Avon from the grounds of the house to the paper mill remain in-situ.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17816880

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)