Description

Kinnear and Peddie (Charles G H Kinnear, architect) 1887-1889; additions and alterations 1910, J M Dick Peddie; further additions circa 1962 at time of change of use to St Andrew's College. Large, asymmetrically composed, 3-storey with basement and attic, L-plan, red sandstone Scots-Baronial and Scots Renaissance mansion situated on the banks of the Leader Water. 4-stage circular entrance tower with crenellated parapet in re-entrant angle of entrance court. Mullioned and transomed windows at principal floors. Corbelled pepperpot turrets with swept fish-scale slated conical roofs at angles; moulded corbel tables; balustraded parapets; crowstepped gables; pedimented dormer-headed windows with Renaissance finials.

Steeply-pitched grey slated roofs. Axial and wallhead stacks. Plate-glass glazing to timber sash and case to upper floors. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: ENTRANCE FRONT: Splayed balustered staircase with decorative wrought-iron lamps to entrance. Elaborately detailed pilastered doorpiece with billet detail at column neck; frieze with triglyphs and guttae, sculptured detailing at metopes; block pediment above cornice and sculptured heraldic panel with inscription in pediment above ('et industria probitate'), flanked by obelisk finials raised on balls. Stepped string-course at 1st floor, corbel table of multiple billet mouldings at 2nd. 3-storey turret in re-entrant angle corbelled out at 2nd floor level over squinch arch. Gable with canted bay in re-entrant angle to left of tower, full-height, with attic gable.

ENTRANCE ELEVATION, S WING: 3 bays to right of tower with simple regular treatment of single-light windows; 4th bay shallow rectangular bay with 3-light windows, balustraded parapet at bipartite dormer, richly decorated; circular tower with fish-scale slated roof in re-entrant angle of projecting gable to right, latter with corbelled angle turrets. Bolection-moulded architrave and heavy nailed oak door with thistle-pattern to basement entrance in main re-entrant angle between S wing and W cross-arm.

ENTRANCE ELEVATION, E WING: main house extends for 2 bays; outer bay with shallow rectangular tripartite bay with balustraded parapet forming balcony to tripartite above; 2 small timber dormers; corbelled angle turret at outer bay. Lower service range extending to left, crowstepped gable off-centre with decorative stack coping, grouped with circular angle tower. Unsympathetic reconstruction of balustraded area wall in front of courtyard elevations, 1990/91.

N ELEVATION, (SERVICE COURT): segmentally-arched pend to service court in end gable of 2-storey and attic range; single-storey ranges beyond.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: asymmetrical composition of parapets and crowstepped gables of service ranges masked at left by 1960s building and by single-storey flat roofed additions in NE re-entrant angle.

S ELEVATION: 5-bay main block, central part regular 3-bay except at 1st floor with asymmetrical 3-light window on left, 2-light on right; flanked, on left, by full-height canted bay, corbelled out twice to reach square; on right, by rectangular tripartite bay rising to entablature and balustraded parapet,gable with single-light window above. End elevation of W wing recessed to left; full-height circular angle tower bay corbelled out at 1st floor level; rectangular bay in re-entrant angle at 1st floor with balustraded parapet. Stair and terrace on segmental arch with balustraded parapet, rises round it a SW angle, a 1904 addition. S terraced garden laid out at same time (1904). Late 20th century corrugated sheet iron fire-escape to W elevation.

INTERIOR: much of original and 1910-14 refurbishment surviving. 17th century style scots renaissance plaster ceilings and timber panelling throughout. ENTRANCE HALL: wainscotted with cast-iron detailed radiator cases; decorative terrazzo floor; 2-tier broken pedimented ionic pilastered chimney-piece with neo-georgian cast-iron register and grate; mirror overmantle; Jacobethan plaster ceiling and strapwork cornice at upper landing. Rich timber architraved and pedimented doorcases. Central staircase with jacobethan-detailed newels and finials, and half-balusters alternating with full-height balusters. Very elaborate chimneypiece in wainscotted dining room, with coupled half-fluted doric columns below, and coupled corinthianesque fluted columns above flanking 2 shell niches; broken pediment above. 'boudoir' with bowed angle (at W) now subdivided (main part not seen): elaborate plaster ceilings, and bolection-moulded chimneypiece, of 1914 date. DRAWING ROOM: neo-rococo style; elaborate plaster ceiling and cornice. Gilt border moulding and rococo sopra porte decoration;original gilt pelmet.

Statement of Interest

Part of a B-Group including 'Drygrange House (Grangehall Care Home, Formerly St Andrew's College) Including Garden Terrace Walls to South'; 'Drygrange, Walled Garden'; ' Drygrange, North Lodge Including Gates, Gatepiers and Quadrant Walls'; 'Drygrange, South Lodge Including Gates, Gatepiers and Quadrant Walls'; 'Drygrange, House to North of Steading'; 'Drygrange, Stables and Steading' and 'Drygrange, Summerhouse'.

Significant Scots-Baronial mansion house by Charles Kinnear of renowned Edinburgh architectural practice, Kinnear and Peddie. Commissioned by Edward Sprot of Riddell, Drygrange demonstrates a bold and eclectic mix of Scottish-Renaissance and English Jacobean, with liberal use of corbelling, turrets, crowsteps and castellation and carved details of some distinction. The circular entrance tower, within the re-entrant angle of the L-plan, is of the Castle Fraser and Threave Castle type and dominates the composition. The building is also notable for some outstanding interior detail, particularly in the entrance hall, dining room and former drawing room. The 'Boudoir' plasterwork is probably by Clappertons of Melrose, 1914.

Considerably extended and altered during a change of use to St Andrew's College during the 1960s, including a timber boarded chapel to the SW, and N wing for library and theatre. A conservatory proposed in original plans of 1889, at W elevation, was presumably not executed.

List description updated at resurvey (2010).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17843121

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

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  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
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  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
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