Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

LESLIE HOUSE WITH CONSERVATORY, TERRACED GARDEN AND BOUNDARY WALLSLB9693

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
24/11/1972
Supplementary Information Updated
02/09/2002
Local Authority
Fife
Planning Authority
Fife
Parish
Leslie (Fife)
NGR
NO 25968 1833
Coordinates
325968, 701833

Description

John Mylne with William Bruce advising, 1667 classical house. Restoration of W front of 1767 house. 3-storey with vaulted basement and attic, 13-bay (grouped 2-3-3-3-2), classical house, altered in 19th century, 1905-8 alterations and 1945 conversion to Eventide House by James Gillespie and Scott, now in use as Church of Scotland Eventide home. Ashlar with base course, moulded string courses and cavetto eaves cornice, architraved windows, chamfered arrises and stone mullions, stone dormers. Coursed whinstone to S and partially to N and E with patches of heavy pointing, evidence of alterations.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical advanced, pedimented 3-bay centrepiece with door at centre of blinded pilastered arcade of 3 depressed arches with keystones and fluted pilasters bearing Doric capitals framing 6 smaller pilasters, windows in outer bays, pediment with tympanum bearing Rothes coat-of-arms (part of Lorimer's re-working). Flanking 3 bays each side recessed, 2-outer bays each side advanced. Extreme right bay with door: regular fenestration at 1st and 2nd floors. Round-headed dormers over bays 4 and 10, and centrally positioned betweeen outer bays, pedimented dormers immediately flanking centrepiece and over bays 9 and 11, all dormer windows slate-hung and bearing medallions, balustraded parapet.

E ELEVATION: 3-storey, 11-bay, with conservatory adjoining at left side. Steps to centre door with shaped pediment, 4 windows to right grouped 1-2-1, 3 windows to left grouped 1-2 with door at outer left obscured by conservatory; regular fenestration at 1st and 2nd floors with stair window in bays 4 and 8; long, low flat-roofed dormer window over 2 penultimate bays to right.

S ELEVATION: 3-storey, 3-bay with raised basement, canted window to right of centre at ground and 1st floor, window over; further windows in bay to left to each floor.

N ELEVATION: 4-storey (basement above ground), 4-bay with 2-storey, 3-bay piend-roofed extension to left and single storey, 3-bay lean-to extension to outer left. Door to outer right with 2 windows to left at ground, regular fenestration at all other levels of main building, fire escape to left with windows in penultimate left bay at 3rd and 4th floors converted to doors. 2-storey extension with 2 barred windows at each level, further window at 1st floor on E return face over single storey extension with centre pedimented door and barred windows in flanking bays.

Mainly 12-pane glazing pattern with thick astragals in sash and case windows, 4-pane glazing pattern in W facing dormer windows and 15-pane glazing pattern in fixed stair windows. Graded grey slates to piend and leaded platform roof. Ashlar coped dormerheads and paired cavetto coped stacks with base courses.

INTERIOR: classical decorative scheme, partially masked by requirements as nursing home. Paved lobby with slate diamonds. Portico enclosed to form large hall with dominant fireplace, deep-set panelled door with prominent keystone echoed in Lorimeresque doorway. 2 sets of stairs with alternate straight and barleysugar/turned wood balusters, moulded risers, wide N-S dividing landing altered to house bathrooms. Some fine carved chimneypieces, doorheads and cornices. Panelled coombed ceilings to attic.

CONSERVATORY: fully glazed Victorian conservatory rectangular plan with glazed lantern, ashlar base course, band of glazed pivot ventilators above and interior with ornate cast-iron columns, flange brackets and shelving.

TERRACED GARDEN AND BOUNDARY WALLS: 3 terraces with rubble retaining walls to S, access through pedestrian gateways with timber and cast-iron gates to 17th century staircases; formal garden to E possibly some remains of 1731 Robert Adam gardens. Large carved stone flower basin (fountain?) on triangular plinth with remains of 3 seated sculptured figures in classical drapes, deeply-carved ivy-leaf decoration to fluted stem and paterae detail to cornice. Extensive coped whinstone rubble boundary walls.

Statement of Special Interest

Sir Norman Leslie acquired Fythkil (original name of parish) circa 1282, renaming it after family lands in Aberdeenshire; the family becoming Earls of Rothes in 1457. Earliest evidence of a house on this site is 1667-72 for John, 7th Earl and only Duke of Rothes, said to have been similar to Holyrood Palace, built around a court and with a gallery 3' longer, plans and drawings of the E and W fronts appear in VITRUVIUS SCOTICUS. Destroyed by fire on 28th December 1763, the present much smaller house was built, supposedly a restoration of the least damaged W side for John, 11th Earl. In 1919 the house was acquired by Sir Robert Spencer Nairn who, as he saw the advancing development of Glenrothes, gave it to the Church of Scotland in 1952 for use as an Eventide Home.

Leslie House is the largest and earliest Restoration house in Fife. The sadly eroded shaped pediment above the E door, was possibly removed from the main entrance and was originally inscribed with the coroneted monogram of the 7th Earl and his countess, Anne Lindsay. The Sir Robert Lorimer attribution for the 1905-8 alterations now seems highly unlikely; the Gillespie Scott Archive Lists plans for an altered bay window (S elevation), opening in drawing room, strengthening of gallery and billiard room floors and the addition of a servants law and brushing room (N elevation exclusion?), with numerous alterations to buildings within the policies. The S facing outer R dormer window is not attainable from the interior, being hidden behind wall panelling. Group with West Lodge, West Gate, Duke's Lodge, Duke's Lodge Gates and Forester's Lodge. Upgraded B to A September 2002.

References

Bibliography

1st edition OS map, 1856. NMRS. Thomas Hannan, FAMOUS SCOTTISH HOUSES, THE LOWLANDS. John Gifford, BUILDINGS OF SCOTLAND, FIFE (1988). THIRD STATISTICAL ACCOUNT (1952). James Gillespie and Scott Archive, St Andrews University Library.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

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Printed: 19/03/2024 04:57