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Summary

Description

Sir Robert Lorimer, 1907. Irregular-plan 17th century Scots style 3-storey tower house (number 66) with adjoining single-storey and attic former service wing to NE (number 68); crowstepped gables and stone-finialled wall-head dormers breaking eaves. Main house (number 66) with advanced central stair-tower to NW elevation and slightly advanced gable at right to SE elevation; piend-roofed former play-pavilion (extended later) to outer left (SW) joined to house by later single-storey link corridor (see Notes). Approximately L-plan service wing adjoining to NE comprising 3-bay range and 2-bay gabled cross-wing, advanced to SE elevation with ashlar-coped skews and scrolled skew-putts. Former detached 1920 laundry house to NE, now connected to house with flat-roofed, glazed timber link-room. Courtyard garden to NW of 3-bay range; arched gateway with studded, timber-boarded door in original ashlar-coped wall to NE. Coursed sandstone rubble. Eaves course. Regular fenestration to SE; fairly irregular fenestration to other elevations.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: main house with central stair-tower to right; service wing to left. Iron-studded timber-boarded door within roll-moulded architrave surround to left return of advanced stair tower: inscription on lintel reads BLISIT BE GOD FOR ALL HIS GIFTIS; cornice above lintel; framed blank panel flanked by carved scrolls and foliate decoration above cornice. Link corridor with single window. Former play-pavilion advanced to outer right; wall-head stack to NW elevation; studded timber-boarded door breaking eaves with later wrought-iron balcony at attic storey to left (NE) return. 4-bay advanced service wing with chamfered corner at ground to right; corbelled out to right-angle above. Advanced bay with swept roof to left of centre containing half-glazed timber-panelled door with sidelights within later recessed porch. Forward-facing gable to outer left with slightly later flat-roofed, timber-boarded outshot at ground. Former single-storey laundry-house to NE (left) with swept dormer breaking eaves and gablehead stack to left return linked to main house by ashlar-coped wall with central timber-boarded door.

SE (GARDEN) ELEVATION: main house to left: 3 bays with gable to right-hand bay; central half-glazed timber-panel door with small-pane fanlight; modern conservatory to outer left. Former service wing recessed to right: 3 bays with swept dormers breaking eaves and glazed door; advanced gable to outer right. Laundry-house to NE (right) with swept dormer breaking eaves; glazed timber link joining laundry to house.

NE (SIDE) ELEVATION: mullioned bipartite windows at ground to service wing; gablet-headed dormers breaking eaves above. Main house: service wing at ground; forward-facing gable to right; finialled gablet-headed dormer at attic to left; shouldered stack to centre.

SW ELEVATION: 2-gable-end to main house; asymmetrical gable to left, slightly advanced and corbelled out at 2nd floor. Former play-pavilion advanced at ground to left: original pavilion with timber-boarded door to left; advanced, later extension with catslide roof and tall stack to right; large modern picture-window at ground to right return (SE); upper-storey corbelled out with stone-finialled dormer breaking eaves.

Predominantly 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows; some 6- and 9-pane glazing; some 6-pane casements to NW elevation. Ashlar coped stacks with tall red clay cans. Cast-iron downpipes; 1 decorative hopper to SW. Old Forfarshire slates and stone ridge-tiles.

INTERIOR OF NUMBER 66: Timber panelling to hall and principal ground floor rooms; slightly later chimneypieces in study (former drawing room), dining room (former school room) and drawing room. Original grate in study. Compartmented ceilings in hall and study. Mahogany stair banister (see Notes). Unusual timber panelled doors with brass door furniture throughout.

GARDEN PAVILION AND TERRACE: single-storey garden pavilion (possibly former boiler house or apple house) to NE of house with bell-cast pavilion roof; studded timber boarded door, breaking eaves to SW elevation; finialled dormer breaking eaves to SE; large stack with terracotta cans to NW. Garden terrace with random rubble retaining wall and 2 sets of stone steps.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: coped random rubble boundary wall, to Dreghorn Loan (see Notes). Two pairs of tall pyramidal-capped gatepiers with modern cast-iron gates.

Statement of Special Interest

B-Group with 60 Dreghorn Loan. A particularly fine house by Lorimer for James Ivory Esquire, built in a simple and convincing seventeenth century style. Lorimer almost certainly contributed to the design of the gardens which were originally filled with herbaceous planting where the lawn is now (see the plate in Hussey). The idea of using a terrace may have been influenced by the terraces at Traquair House, which are illustrated in an article Lorimer wrote on Scottish Gardens in the Architectural Review (1899, vol VI, p196). Within the former curtilage of Laverockdale House are the former motor-house, cottage and store/stables, all circa 1909 (now forming one property and listed separately, but B-Grouped with this house), a Dutch-style timber-boarded house with pantiled roof, circa 1925 (not listed), and two modern houses (not listed), one of which stands within the walls of the former walled garden (walls included in this list).

The former play-pavilion to the SW of the main house was originally one bay square and had a forestair to the door. It was connected to the house by a South-facing conservatory. It is described in rather gushing terms by Weaver: "The pavilion is consecrated to children. On its ground floor rest bicycles and toys, while upstairs on rainy days the making of toffee can proceed unchecked by the criticisms of elder folk". The extension (which contains the drawing room) was done either in the late 1930s or mid-1950s, and re-used the original dormer from the SE elevation of the play-pavilion.

The entire top floor of the house was occupied by the children's nursery. It comprised separate day and night nurseries, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a scullery with a food lift from the kitchen, a linen cupboard, and a large playroom. The latter is illustrated in Weaver, and contained, among other things, a swing, a climbing rope, a monkey-bar and a see-saw. The beam from which they hung is still in place. One last point of interest is that the mahogany stair banister is not polished with beeswax, but was rubbed down with rotten-stone and oil, "a treatment which not only gives a rich colour, but leaves the surface soft as silk".

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