Description

Sir Robert Smirke, 1817, Greek-style neo-classical mansion, with William Burn, 1827, additions of superimposed base course, balustrade, pilasters flanking centre bays to front and rear, additional floors to service

court and N pavilion; further alterations 1881, including filling of garden front portico as bow window, addition of garden balustrade and canted bays interweaved through entrance portico; John Farquharson of Haddington, 1896, addition of glazed 1st floor, pentice-roofed corridor by service court. Sub-divided, 1988. 2-storey, attic and basement. Ashlar Cullalo sandstone, with squared red and cream rubble to the service court basement. 1st floor cill course, moulded cornice, balustraded parapet with dies. Architraved windows with cornice to principal floors.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: main block symmetrical 9-bay; tripartite fluted Doric portico with full classical entablature; 2-leaf door with flanking windows inserted and extending beyond portico into canted bays across

original windows. Attic storey above 3 centre bays. Tripartites to centre bay windows, flanked by broad pilasters. Single windows to each floor in remaining bays, taller to ground floor. 3 additional ground floor bays to outer right, with balustrade, linking with tripartite, fluted Doric columned and pedimented single storey and basement pavilion, 3-bays deep, with blind windows to centre and left.

SW (GARDEN) ELEVATION: symmetrical 9-bay with attic storey over centre 7 bays. Bowed window (former loggia) to ground floor at centre, with flight of steps and balustraded parapet; tripartite windows to centre bay with flanking pilasters as above. Single windows to each floor of 3-bays flanking centre; slightly advanced outer bays with segmentally arched panels at ground with tripartite windows, French windows to outer right bay; tripartite 1st floor windows to outer bays. Blind arcaded

curtain wall of 5-bays extending to outer left, with doorway to service court, linking with tripartite and pedimented temple fronted garden pavilion, advanced to far left.

NW ELEVATION: U-plan service court to right with 2-storey, 3-bay piend-roofed building to outer right abacking garden pavilion on higher ground. 7 irregular bays to left, 2-storey and basement, Cullalo ashlar to tallest upper storey; blind windows and doorways blocked as windows.

SE ELEVATION: 3-bay, symmetrical elevation stepped. Advanced centre balustraded bay to ground floor with segmental panel and tripartite window; recessed bays to 1st and attic floor set back behind centre and outer bays; outer balustraded bays advanced to a lesser degree than centre bay, at ground and 1st floor, with single windows. Small-pane glazing to sash and case windows, with plate glass to ground floor windows of garden front. Grey slates. Moulded coping to roof stacks.

INTERIOR: high ceilings, large rooms, especially to ground floor, including 2nd library and Drawing Room among the work by Burn. Alterations by Thackeray Turner and Eustace Balfour circa 1910, and recently for school purposes, the latter largely reversed in conversion to flats, 1987-88. Stairwell with cantilevered stone stair, decorative cast-iron railings with gilded anthemion; triple arcade of round-arched niches with ornate classical corbels at 1st floor landing level. Marble chimneypieces; decorative plaster ceilings. Round-arched sections to

cross-axial corridor of main floor.

TERRACE WALLS: circa 1881. Cream ashlar sandstone balustrades, with dies and steps, to S, SE and SW of house.

SUNDIAL: sited by SW elevation. Sundial itself is missing. Stepped octagonal ashlar base with panelled octagonal pedestal, supporting 8 polished, black granite columns and frieze with inscription taken from Omar Khayyam (Lo the bird is on the wing and lo the bird has little way to fly), below octagonal table top.

Statement of Interest

Built for James Balfour who purchased the estate in 1817. Sold in 1963, when it became a school. Double row of circa 600 trees lining the Lime Tree Avenue (never intended to serve as the drive, which runs to W). Lodges, stables, and Joiner's Cottage, listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17567866

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

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]