Description

Mid 19th century. Symmetrical 2-storey, 3-bay plain classical house with single storey, single bay piended pavilions recessed to outer left and right. Squared and snecked tooled cream rubble sandstone; polished grey sandstone dressings. Raised base course; lintel course beneath corniced eaves; polished blocking course. Prominent long and short quoins and surrounds to openings; projecting cills; pilastered entrance. Single storey with attic, 3-bay former gig-house set in N wall: weather-beaten rubble sandstone; polished dressings to round-arched openings; overhanging timber bracketed eaves. Adjoining single storey, 7-bay cottage to W (No 2A Victoria Drive): harled; painted eaves course; raised margins; projecting cills.

NE (SOUTH BEACH) ELEVATION: 2-leaf timber panelled door centred at ground; plate glass fanlight; surrounding doorpiece comprising flanking pilasters, plain frieze, cornice, block pediment, raised keystone; single window aligned at 1st floor. Small, single window in bay to left of entrance; single windows at both floors in bays to outer left and right. Single windows centred in flanking pavilions.

SW (ESPLANADE) ELEVATION: single storey conservatory off-set to left of centre; large stair window centred at 1st floor. Single windows at both floors in bay to outer left. Full-height canted bay to right comprising 4-light windows at both floors (incised segmental arched surrounds at 1st floor); overhanging timber bracketed gable. Single window in single storey addition to outer right. Single storey piended addition projecting to front.

12-pane lying-pane timber sash and case glazing to front; 2-pane timber sash and case glazing at rear (some replacement). Grey slate piended roof; replacement rainwater goods. Corniced wallhead stacks to NW and SE; circular and octagonal cans.

INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: low coped rubble wall to South Beach; whitewashed, stop-chamfered square-plan piers flanking pedestrian entrance; ogee-style caps; timber gate. Coped random rubble wall enclosing site at rear; ball-shaped finials flanking timber pedestrian entry gate.

GIG-HOUSE, NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-leaf boarded timber door centred at ground; flanking round-arched, narrow openings; round-arched opening breaking eaves beneath gableheaded dormer centred above. Grey slate pyramidal roof. INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

2A VICTORIA DRIVE, NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: boarded timber door in bay to outer left; single windows in remaining bays to right. Modern glazing throughout. Grey slate piended roof; harled ridge stack off-set to left of centre. INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

Statement of Interest

Marked on the 1857 Ordnance Survey map as 'Fencebank Villa'. A prominently sited seafront villa notable for its lying-pane glazing, long and short dressings, pilastered entrance and elaborately bracketed rear gable. The single storey cottage (No 2A Victoria Drive) is included in this listing due to its adjoining, and now owning, the former gig-house.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17844704

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

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)