The Pagoda

The Pagoda

Pavilion, now house, built circa 1770–80, possibly by Sir William Chambers, for the 3rd Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. Extended and altered in the 1820s and 1850s.

The building is constructed in Flemish bond red brick with a distinctive gabled Chinese-style slate roof featuring lead flashings and dramatic upturned corners to the gable ends. It has brick lateral stacks and follows a square plan with three storeys, each side of one bay. The Chinoiserie style is emphasised throughout.

The east front displays a segmental-arched two-light ground floor window, a late 19th-century four-light first-floor window with glazing bars, and a large circular window with glazing bars to the second floor. The leaded gable end bears a thistle emblem, as the 3rd Duke was a Knight of the Thistle. The south front features a late 19th-century conservatory added to the ground floor, a segmental-arched late 19th-century four-light first-floor window with glazing bars, and a large elliptical second-floor window with glazing bars.

Mid-19th-century two-storey brick and slate extensions extend to the north and west. The western extension spans two windows with tripartite sashes above a large bow window, whilst the northern extension contains nine windows with a semi-circular arched door and ground-floor sashes set beneath a corona-moulded cornice, with a hipped roof and swept flashings matching the pavilion. An early 20th-century extension was built across the west end of the 19th-century extensions.

The interior retains mid-19th-century fireplaces and cornices.

This is an exceptionally rare example of the Chinoiserie style. The distinctive roof slope and the circular and elliptical first-floor windows are particularly characteristic of Chambers's designs. It is known that Chambers worked on other houses for the Duke and Duchess following their marriage in 1767. Caroline of Brunswick lived here after her separation from the Prince Regent in 1799. Montagu House, which was attached to the west side of the pavilion, was demolished in 1815. The building was extended in the 1820s for the Legge family and in the 1850s for Lewis Glenton.