Description

Circa 1888. 2-storey, 3-bay villa with 2-bay single-storey service wing to N, canted bay window, gabled dormers with decorative bargeboards, deep eaves and Aberdeen-bond stonework. Squared, tooled, coursed, Aberdeen-bond red sandstone to front and back; roughly squared, Aberdeen-bond rubble to sides; polished ashlar dressings. Raised quoin strips and window margins.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: central 2-leaf timber panelled door with fanlight in pointed-arch, stop-chamfered, roll-moulded architrave. Bipartite window at ground to left with hoodmould; 3-light canted bay window to right; gabled dormers at 1st floor. Service wing to outer left with 2 windows.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: segmental-arched staircase window to centre; regular fenestration to outer bays with dormers to 1st floor. Service wing recessed to right with garage and timber boarded back door.

N & S (SIDE) ELEVATIONS: blank gables. Service wing extended from N elevation. Gablehead stack to S only.

4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Corniced stack with octagonal yellow clay cans. Graded grey slate. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: half-glazed timber-panelled lobby door with frosted glass. Curved staircase with decorative cast-iron baluster and mahogany hand rail; border-glazed staircase window with frosted glass to border. Principal room with working timber shutters, marble chimneypiece, decorative floral plaster cornice and plaster ceiling rose. Decorative cornicing and timber panelled interior doors throughout.

Statement of Interest

This is one of several houses that were built to roughly the same design on half-acre plots between The Lane and Seton Terrace during the 1880s. These houses have a standard 'pattern-book' type design with a central front door, canted bay window to one side, bipartite window to the other, and dormers to the 1st floor. However, the detailing of each house is slightly different from that of the others, which gives the impression that a standard house style was stipulated for this area, but that each house was built by a different builder or developer. 31 The Lane is the best of these houses, both in terms of the original detailing, and in the survival of these details. The Aberdeen-bond stonework is a particularly nice and unusual feature, which is not to be found on the other houses; the same goes for the very decorative dormer bargeboards, and it is the only house to have a pointed arch to the front door architrave. The only alteration that appears to have happened to the outside of the house is the rather unfortunate removal of the chimney stack on the North gable. The interior is equally well-detailed and preserved, with working timber shutters, decorative floral friezes, and ceiling roses in the principal rooms.

Each of these houses were built towards the rear (or Seton Terrace) end of their plots, so that the principal rooms faced over as much lawn as possible, with the front bedrooms taking advantage of the views towards the Clyde estuary. Unfortunately the front (West) halves of all the gardens have had new houses built in them, with the exception of 31 The Lane, which still occupies the whole of its original plot. The retention of the entire original plot adds to the interest of this building.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata IDs Q77781210 Q77781213

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)