Description

Frederick Thomas Pilkington, dated 1854. 2-storey and basement, 5-bay, L-plan Free Gothic villa with conical-roofed angle tower, pyramidal-roofed lantern and fine interior. Stugged squared rubble with stugged and polished ashlar dressings. Battered basement, ground floor cill and lintel courses. Fret-carved shouldered, round- and segmental-headed openings, some with relieving arches. Corbels. Roll-moulded and stop-chamfered arrises; stone transoms and mullions. 'Moat' to N, E and W, raised basement to S.

S(PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: stepped elevation with angled entrance bay (2-storey porch) in re-entrant to right of centre with chamfered jambs corbelled to square shouldered doorway incorporating lintel inscribed 'Every house is builded by some man: But he who builds everything is God', this forming porch and leading to deep-set 2-leaf panelled timber round-headed door with semicircular plate-glass fanlight; small corbelled triangular oriel above breaking eaves into pyramidal roof, corbelled and mutuled stack with quatrefoil detail immediately to left in re-entrant; recessed bay to outer right with window to each floor, that to 1st floor breaking eaves into dormerhead. Taller advanced face to left with paired shouldered window to ground right and dormerheaded window above; taller Celtic cross-finialled gabled bay to left with window to each floor and small circular transomed opening in gablehead, rounded 'turret' angle beyond with 2 shouldered window to ground, 4-light transomed window above flanked by 2-light transomed windows.

W ELEVATION: 2 irregularly disposed windows to each floor, corbelled oriel to outer left and shouldered stack with cross detail to right.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: variety of elements to broad 2-bay elevation including 5-light square-plan cantilevered timber bay rising into 3-light piended window and dominant gable to right with stepped chimney breast and gablehead stack.

E ELEVATION: set-back piend-roofed bay to right of centre with door and adjacent window to ground left, window above with tiny opening in re-entrant. Gabled bay to left with window to left at each floor and chimney breast piercing gablehead into paired stack.

Small-pane glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows; coloured glass to lantern. Banded green (Easdale) and purple slates with fishscale at overlaps. Banded cavetto-coped mutuled stacks with some cans. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers and fixings. Decorative bargeboarding.

INTERIOR: fine original decorative scheme in place throughout including decorative plasterwork cornices; timbered and vaulted ceilings; carved woodwork; round-arched saltire-panelled doors of white oak and walnut with chip carving; Gothic-arched stone fireplaces; working timber shutters. Porch and vestibule with mosaic-tiled floors. Ground floor left room (former dining room) with arcaded sideboard recess and flanking doors, timbered ceiling with moulded consoles and stone fireplace with ropework moulding and elaborate cusped carving. Top-lit stair-hall with cantilevered timber dog-leg staircase with pierced quatrefoil detail, finialled newels, nail-head detail, ropework-moulded cornice and decoratively-astragalled rectangular lantern. 1st floor left room (former drawing room) vaulted with decoratively-plastered ribs and carved stone fireplace with architect's initial 'P' over arch. Further timber fireplaces and barrel vaulted ceilings to bedrooms.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: coped squared rubble boundary walls with inset railings and square-section gatepiers with quatrefoil-detailed ashlar copes to S. Glazed semicircular-coped red brick boundary with hoopwork iron gates to N.

Statement of Interest

Formerly listed as Mackenzie Lodge, the current owner (2001) has returned to the original name of 'Inchglas'. Erected for the architect himself, though apparently not occupied by him, when only 22 years of age. His father was both Presbyterian Minister and architect, and Inchglas was planned as both house and office for the Pilkingtons, with public, private and business blocks around the central stair-hall with basement kitchen and cellars. The current kitchen (to N with large oriel window) was conceived as the drawing office, and the owner has noticed both concave and convex moulding on every beam. An early work for Pilkington but already demonstrating the trademarks and design philosophy which would distinguish his practice.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17568181

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)