Description

Circa 1860, with earlier 20 addition to S (see Notes); converted to flats by Thomas Smith, Gibb and Pate, 1966. Predominantly 2-storey, L-plan multi-gabled villa with deep eaves, very decorative bargeboards, advanced canted bay to W, lower wings to sides and rear, and prominent barley-twist chimney cans. Squared, snecked, stugged red sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base course to front. Chamfered window margins; sloping cills; shouldered windows to principal elevations; stone mullions to bipartite and tripartite windows

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 4 bays. Gabled bays to right and left with tripartite windows at ground and bipartite windows at 1st floor. Large 3-window canted bay to right of centre with steep piended roof and gabled dormerheads above 1st floor windows. Narrow bay to left of centre with gabled dormer at 1st floor. 20th century sun lounge to outer right.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 5 bays with 2-bay entrance gable to right. 2-leaf timber panelled front door in roll-moulded architrave with rectangular fanlight above lintel and sidelights; small window above; 4-light canted bay window to advanced to right with advanced gabled bipartite window above. Recessed bay to centre with 20th century half-glazed door at ground and gabled dormer above. Lower gabled bay advanced to left with tripartite window at ground. Single-storey gabled bay advanced to outer left.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: multi-gabled, irregularly fenestrated rear elevation with 2-sided courtyard to left. 2 20th century glazed back doors. Tripartite staircase window overlooking courtyard with circular stained glass window depicting armorial bearing above.

S (SIDE) ELEVATION: 2 gabled dormers to 1st floor. Sun lounge advanced at ground to left; lean-to brick addition at ground to right.

Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case windows; some 4-pane glazing to rear; non-traditional uPVC windows to former service wing. Coped sandstone stacks; tall barley-twist cream clay cans with crenellated tops. Graded grey slate with metal flashings. Cast-iron rainwater goods

INTERIOR: divided into 3 flats. Ground floor flat with decorative cornice, frieze and ceiling rose to drawing room; plainer cornicing elsewhere; timber panelled doors. Staircase with decorative cast-iron balusters and mahogany hand rail to upstairs flat. Access not gained to rest of interior.

BOUNDARY WALL: coped, red sandstone boundary wall.

Statement of Interest

A very prominent, well-designed, and relatively unaltered mid-Victorian villa overlooking the Firth of Clyde, and of considerable streetscape value.

Skelmorlie was developed from the mid 1840s onwards, when the Earl of Eglinton began to feu his land for the building of 'Marine Villas'. The first house to be built, in 1844, was Beach House at the North end of Shore Road. For the first 15 years or so, development was very slow, and the 1st edition OS map (surveyed in 1857) shows only 12 villas along Shore Road, and none in Upper Skelmorlie. From about 1860, however, development began to speed up, and a number of large villas, such as Thorndale, were built along Shore Road as weekend or holiday homes for wealthy West Coast merchants. Unfortunately the majority of these villas along the southern half of Shore Road have been demolished to make way for large blocks of modern flats. Thorndale is now the best example to survive, as it is relatively unaltered, and retains most of its original features such as the ornate bargeboards, highly decorative chimney cans, and most of its sash windows.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17831313

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)