Description

William Burn, dated 1826; service wing extended early 20th century. 2-storey and basement on falling ground with single, 2- and 3-storey service wings, irregular-plan, plain Tudor-style country house. Sandstone ashlar with droved angles, grey slate roof. Base course at S, E and W elevations, string course at 1st floor S and E elevations; windows mostly bi- and tripartite with chamfered and cavetto moulded margins and mullions, originally lying-pane glazing in sash and case frames, now mostly plate-glass; gabled dormerheads to 1st floor windows of main house (arrow slit ventilators at S elevation) with scroll skewputts and gabletted coping; similarly coped skew gables, some with finials, others with corbelled single and linked diagonal gable stacks (some at ridges and wallheads); plain cast-iron rainwater goods (decorative hopper at entrance porch).

E ELEVATION: 3-bay, asymmetrical. Single storey gabled entrance porch at centre approached by steps with open-work/pierced balustrade and ball-finialled dies, 2-leaf panelled and studded door, moulded doorcase, heraldic panel above with stepped hoodmould, bipartite window recessed at left. Bipartite at 1st floor of recessed main gable above with small round-headed and shouldered window at left. Single storey gable with bipartite slightly recessed at right forming upper floor of N elevation service block. Advanced gable at left, blind tripartite window at ground floor with painted astragals, tripartite at 1st floor, gable stack.

S ELEVATION: 5-bay, near symmetrical. 2 bays slightly advanced at right with 2 tripartite windows at ground and 1st floor; 3 bays at left, advanced 5-light rectangular window with panelled frieze and coped parapet at left, tripartite at right with entrance steps,

3 bipartites at 1st floor.

W ELEVATION: 3 original bays at right; recessed centre bay has bipartite window at basement and ground; slightly advanced gable at right with tripartite at ground and 1st floor and single gable stack; further advanced gable at left with advanced covered basement tripartite at ground and 1st floor and gable stack, tripartite at ground floor right return and bipartite at 1st. 3 later (service) bays advanced at left; covered basement as above continues at right, centre gable with tripartite at ground and 1st floor, bipartites at ground and 1st floor at left and right bays; further bays at left with bipartite at basement and modern 1st floor addition.

N ELEVATION: altered. Basement and 2-storeys with various windows, including 12-pane, lying-pane, plate-glass and uPVC framed sash and case, and leaded stair window. Early 20th century service wing advanced at right with doors and various windows; original larder/dairy at left with stone shelf and internal louvred vent at window.

INTERIOR: moulded cornices and some original chimneypieces; well stair with decorative cast-iron balusters and octagonal timber newel posts; bathroom with Delft-style tiles at W of house, Art-Deco style bathroom at E; vaulted cellars.

HA-HA AND TERRACE STEPS: long dry-stone ha-ha at S with set of projecting steps, perhaps pre-dating the present house; 2 sets of terrace steps with coped balustrade and ball-finialled dies.

WALL WITH BEE-BOLES: 4 bee-holes in dry stone wall at W.

GATEPIERS AND ADJOINING WALLS: 2 ashlar gatepiers with moulded caps and ball finials, 2 angle dies adjoining with sweeping quadrants and roll-moulded coping terminating in pyramidal capped piers.

Statement of Interest

Duntrune House was built for the Stirling Graham family on the site of an earlier house whose basement may have been incorporated into the present building. The plan reflects Burn?s concern for convenience and separation of family and service areas; in addition to a back stairs there is a staircase leading directly from the basement offices to the dining room pantry. Burn?s surviving drawings show that minor modifications were made to the design as built. The plain Tudor style contrasts dramatically with the same architect?s Greek temple-style Camperdown House on the north eastern edge of Dundee, built from 1824. The bee-boles in the garden which may pre-date the present house reflect Clementina Stirling Graham?s interest in bees (see REFERENCES); her MYSTIFICATIONS also illuminate amusing aspects of 19th century middle class assemblies. There is an 1877 inventory of Miss Stirling Graham?s furniture and effects from Duntrune in the Dundee University Archives (also a drawing of her memorial window in St Mary?s Church, Broughty Ferry). The former billiard room, now a kitchen/living room was created from a bedroom and dressing room in 1904, the same year in which electricity was installed. During the 1745 rebellion the Graham?s were Jacobites and part of their involvement with this cause is related by Malcolm. The Stirling Grahams? relationship to the Grahams of Claverhouse and others is shown in the manuscript volume in the National Library. Duntrune House is now sub-divided into 5 units.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17770288

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)