Description

Charles Wilson, 1859-62. 4-storey with basement, 4-bay, asymmetrical square-plan 17th century revival-style house. Squared and snecked sandstone rubble. Crenellated, square-plan tower to centre, crowstepped gables, corner turrets.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATIONS: 4-stage, square-plan tower to centre. Small square, basement window; stone mullioned tall bipartite window to 1st storey; single window to 2nd storey; corbelled, bowed oriel window to 3rd storey; 2 small windows to 4th storey; crenellated parapet; engaged turret to SE corner, crenellated parapet. Regularly fenestrated, gabled bay to left. Recessed double, gabled bay to right. Single storey, lean-to 2-bay porch; splayed stone steps with coped balustrade to gabled, shouldered-arch entrance to right bay, corner column to right, open to right return; off-set timber door with strap hinges, traceried, mullioned and transomed bipartite window to bay to left.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: gabled bay to left; small, square window to basement; tripartite, stone mullioned, window to ground floor, corbelled cill, projecting lintel. Window to 2nd floor with small window to immediate right. Bracketed corbel table to 3rd floor, dropped central panel bearing coat-of-arms; flanking corbelled turrets with candle-snuffer roof. Blind arrowslit to gable head. Regular fenestration to central bay, modern conservatory to ground. Double gabled bay to right, modern addition to basement, regular fenestration, continuous machiolated hoodmould to 2nd storey windows.

N (SIDE) ELEVATION: advanced, double gabled bay to centre, irregular fenestration, door to left. Single storey gabled out-shot to left. 2-storey, gabled out-shot to right, corbelled turret to right corner.

S (SIDE) ELEVATION: 3-storey and basement, continuous cill course to ground floor, continuous bracketed corbel table to 3rd floor; irregular fenestration; advanced single storey, canted bay to right. Nepus gable breaking eaves to centre. Symmetrical, corbelled corner turrets.

Plate glass, timber-framed sash and case windows. Fishscale slates, lead flashing. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Coped gable stacks.

INTERIOR: small enclosed entrance lobby with encaustic tiled floor leads to a large top-lit stairwell with rooms at each level arranged around this central axis. Decorated in seventeenth century revival style with timber panelled walls and elaborate strapwork plaster ceilings, the star-patterned E drawing room ceiling being of special note.

Statement of Interest

Commissioned by William Towers-Clark. Similar to Wilson's baronial villa in Dundee. The compact, almost square plan of Wester Moffat was based upon Dunlop House by David Hamilton, 1831-4, with which Wilson may have been involved. The central stairwell emphasises the vertical arrangement of the building. A similar approach was also adopted by David Bryce at Stronvar, Perthshire, 1850.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17825432

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)