Description

George Shaw Aitken, 1880; major extension at W by Robert Gibson, 1911. 2-storey and tower, irregular-plan, large villa. Snecked tooled rubble with bull-faced base course and pale ashlar dressings, slate roof. Transom and mullion windows, chamfered margins, plate glass sash and case frames; open-work parapets at canted and rectangular windows and at S portico; continuous lintel course at 1st floor S and E elevations; bracketted eaves, plain bargeboards, exposed collars and posts at finialled gables cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative brackets and hoppers, moulded stacks.

E ELEVATION: single storey, 3-bay wing at right. Entrance porch advanced at centre; 2-leaf panelled door in moulded doorcase with sculpted lintel, moulded plinth, saw-tooth angle brackets, round-arched corbelling to open-bottom pediment with cartouche and other sculpted decoration, segmental acroterion. Recessed linking section at left with bipartite window; flat-roofed blank bay recessed at right with patera panel. Main house at left. T-plan Conservatory at centre; 5 light canted window at advanced single storey bay at far left, 5-light rectangular window at far right; 3 windows at 1st floor, bipartite atright gable with mannered block lintel.

S ELEVATION: original house at right. Tripartite window at centre, balcony at 1st floor with bipartite; advanced gable at far right with 2-storey, 5-light canted window, paired sawtooth angle brackets to oversailing gable with cartouche; 5-light rectangular projecting window at far right. Bipartite flanked by single windows at 1st floor. Extension at left, advanced from original elevation: semi-circular Doric columned entrance portico with balustrade at far right re-entrant, tripartite canted window above at diagonal with sawtooth brackets to oversailing gable; 6-light rectangular projecting window at left, bipartite flanked by single windows at 1st floor; 4-light canted window at far right with bipartite at 1st floor; corbelled round angled turret at left angle with tripartite 1st floor window, panel friezes and ogival finialled roof.

W ELEVATION: extension at right. Armorial shield flanked by oculi at right, forestair at left, door and 2 windows at 1st floor; windows at ground and 1st floor left return gable. Original building recessed at left. Single storey projection at far left; 4 windows at ground floor right, depressed arch windows at 1st floor with paired round-headed, multi-pane windows inserted, and balcony, mansard roof-light with finialled 4-sided cupola.

N ELEVATION: various single storey projections; 1st floor slightly advanced tripartite stair window off-centre with paired saw tooht brackets to oversailing gable; bipartite at right with piended-dormer above; bipartite at left with segmental pediment;: 2-stage tower rising above with 2 windows at 1st stage and window with balcony at 2nd, further windows at S, E and W elevations, moulded cornice and balustraded parapet with stone-finialled corner dies; blank bay at 1st floor far right; projecting gable at far right with oculus.

INTERIOR: of exceptional quality throughgout, with 27th and 18th century-style detailing virtually unaltered, including all ceiling cornices and plasterwork, chimneypieces and most bathroom ceramics and fixtures. Individual features of note include: Doric marble columns in antis at porch with large fanlight and door; compartmentalised ceiling with Tudor rose and monogram motifs at outer hall with tripartite bowed door and mannered astragals; large inner hall with oak wainscot, massive Jacobean-style marble chimneypiece with cast-iron grate; scale and platt staircase with open-work balusters and large tripartite stained glass window; festoon plasterwork and ornate chimneypiece in dining room; hardwood panelling, Corinithian columns, pilasters and plasterwork in billiard room; large Eagle range 'G H Nicoll and Co, Dundee'; early cast-iron radiator at landing; 'Twyford EDINBURGH combined housemaid's sink and slop hopper'; decorative cast-iron spiral staircae to tower observation room; flower pattern leaded and stained windows in old billiard room (mezzanine added).

CONSERVATORY: large T-plan consrvatory at E elevation.

GATEPIERS AND ENCLOSING WALL: 4 mannered, copped ashlar gatepiers, plus 1 removed to S of new (1989) sheltered housingblock. Rubble wall at W and at Strathern Road modified by new building.

LAMP STANDARD: decorative cast-iron lamp standard in drive.

TERRACE WALL: terrace wall of S of house, snecked rubble with semi-circular balustrade and moulded coping; steps at E and W.

Statement of Interest

Northwood was formerly called Corona House, built for the Mudies, then owned by Stephens shipbuilders and Thomson publishers. The large western extension of 1911, which includes the billiard room, was added for William Thomson; the entrance porch and bowed doors to the inner hall were probably also added at this time. Northwood is now owned by Servite Housing Association (Scotland) Ltd and used as their administrative centre. A sheltered housing block has been guilt in the kitchen garden (1988-90). The lodge is listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17813951

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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  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  For the Record
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  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)