Description

James C Walker, circa 1869. 2-storey with attic, 6-bay (later single storey 2-bay addition to SE) irregular-plan, Rogue Baronial villa with detached hall to rear. Ashlar (possibly tooled, now weathered), red sandstone columns to doorpiece. Base course, string course between ground and 1st floor, moulded in bay to left.

NE (PROMENADE) ELEVATION: advanced 3-stage entrance tower; chamfered angles to 3rd stage to centre; round-arched pedimented doorpiece with flanking columns; 2-leaf panelled door. Inner vestibule door; plate glass semicircular fanlight above. Window at 2nd stage and at 3rd stage above, round-arched at 3rd stage with balustraded balcony. Window to chamfered angles of tower; corbelling to balustraded stone window guard. Window at ground and 3rd stage of return to NW; and rectangular tablet at 1st floor of bay to centre. Window to each floor of bay flanking to right. Advanced gabled single storey addition to outer right with canted window; kneelers and finial to gable. Canted 2-storey window with swept lead roof in gabled bay to left of centre, kneelers, finials and skew putt to gable, small round-arch window set in gablehead. Later single storey flat-roofed addition to outer left with windows to each bay. Later harled blank addition to left.

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: 5-bay; round-arched border-glazed stair window with engraved and coloured glass to centre; single storey addition to outer left; advanced bays to outer right, blank end bay. Single storey lean-to addition.

Plate glass timber sash and case windows to NE elevation, 4-pane timber sash and case windows to SW; tripartite piended dormer in bay to left with round-arched window to centre. Grey slate roof, with fish-scale slates to centre tower; cast-iron finial. Flat roofs to later additions to left. Coped gablehead stack to NW elevation of 2-storey and single storey blocks. Coped gablehead stacks to 2 bays to outer right at rear.

INTERIOR: plasterwork (particularly fine to ground and 1st floor rooms to left of centre) and shutters in situ. Barleysugar cast-iron stair balustrade. White marble chimneypiece with later glazed tiles to former drawing room.

HALL: single storey, rectangular-plan with gable to NE with kneelers and finial, round-arch window with some stained-glass. Porch to SW. Squared and snecked sandstone to NE and NW elevations, rubble to SE and SW. Grey slate roof, with skylights to apex. Sandstone coped stack with octagonal can.

INTERIOR: timber panelled dado, carved timber chimneypiece.

BOUNDARY WALLS: squared and snecked with moulded coping to Promenade with decorative cast-iron railings and gate. Tall rubble with rounded coping to rear.

Statement of Interest

The plans of this villa which had recently been erected at the RSA exhibition in 1869, for William Griffiths Esq. The hall to the rear was, according to the present owner, used as a place of worship by the first owners. This, however, has not been verified by documentary evidence. The villa was converted into an hotel in 1970, and subsequent alterations were made in 1990.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17809636

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)