Description

Dated 1793, with earlier house dated 1680, adjoining at irregular angle to rear. Work by John Smith of Aberdeen, circa 1820. Interior work by John Fowler, circa 1965.

1680 HOUSE: orientated E-W; 2-storey, 4 irregular bays, with later piend-roofed additional bay to E, adjoined to 1793 house at W with cluster of 19th century linking blocks. Harled, with Turriff red sandstone margins; chamfered reveals. Door to S, windows flanking at ground, windows at 1st floor close under eaves. 4 windows to each floor at rear, mostly enlarged. Garages inserted in piend-roofed addition.

1793 HOUSE: 2-storey raised over basement, 5-bay. Squared and coursed whinstone with galletting, suggesting block and sneck pattern; polished red and cream sandstone dressings; band course, eaves course, raised margins, rusticated quoins.

W ELEVATION: advanced, pedimented bay to centre, horseshoe stone stair with wrought-iron balustrade and ashlar piers, leading to entrance at principal floor. Tripartite door; deep-set 4-panelled door with strip fanlight flanked by paired, engaged Roman Doric, fluted piers, blind side-lights, carried frieze and cornice. Window above at 1st floor, bulls-eye to pediment with 3 dies. Windows to flanking bays at each floor; taller to principal floor.

S ELEVATION: garden terraced to level of principal floor; low door to right of centre with windows flanking. 2 windows to outer bays at 1st floor. Round-arched window to attic at centre with keystone and impost blocks, between paired stacks.

N ELEVATION: later (1820?), piend-roofed addition adjoining basement, window to right return, door to left; 2 windows to principal floor. 1st floor and above detailed as S elevation.

E ELEVATION: centre bay advanced with round-arched stair window, detailed as above. Irregular harled 19th century additions rising to 1st floor, linking to earlier house. To right, later doorway at ground, window to each floor in outer bay. Further door and windows to basement to left, and 2 windows at each floor above.

Sash and case windows with 12-pane glazing pattern predominating. Regrettable concrete tiles to pitch and platform roof, cupola lighting stair. Ashlar coped skews with skewblocks.

Broad, corniced and margined paired ashlar stacks with decorative cans.

INTERIOR: 1793 house; tripartite vestibule door, half- glazed,

with semi-circular fanlight. Hall, with paired Ionic columns and

pilasters between doors to principal rooms. Dog-leg ashlar stair

lit by round-arched stair window and cupola.

LIBRARY: to left, former dining room; circa 1830, trompe l'oeil illusionistic painted plaster ceiling, simulating carved and panelled

wood. Panelled dado. Grey marble fireplace.

DRAWING ROOM: to right, by John Fowler, circa 1965? hung with pleated grey silk, plasterwork ceiling and cornice, white marble fireplace with Neo-classical brass grate.

DINING ROOM: former library to rear; marble fireplace with window above. Door to terrace (see notes). 6 panelled doors, with panelled ingoes.

Statement of Interest

George Ogilvy of Dunlugas built the 1680 house; the Ogilvys owned much of the Deveron Valley. The estate passed to Hans George Leslie, who built a new house in 1793. The estate later passed to the Urquharts of Craigston. The house is surrounded by parkland and rich plantations. The architect of the 1793 house is unknown. John Smith is documented as working here circa 1820 (see THE BUILDER); the library ceiling may

have been painted under his direction. The walled garden, former stables and bridge, to the N are listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17570762

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)