Aberfoyle House

Aberfoyle House is a detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey building over basement with a stucco front, built around 1845 and originally known as Richmond House. It was remodeled around 1870. The building is cruciform on plan, facing east, and stands on an elevated site on the west side of Strand Road within the Magee University Campus. Access is via a steep winding avenue opening onto Strand Road through gate pillars and a gate lodge, also built around 1845.

The roof is hipped with natural slate and incorporates roll-moulded lead ridges and valleys. The rendered chimney-stacks are profiled. Moulded cast-iron guttering runs beneath overhanging eaves, supported on paired brackets and discharging to cast-iron downpipes.

The walling is painted ruled-and-lined render with a projecting plinth course, a continuous cornice over the ground floor, and a moulded string course over the first floor windows. Original single-pane timber sash windows are found throughout, featuring slender ogee horns and some historic glass. On the first floor, the windows are set in segmental-headed openings with recessed apron panels; ground floor windows are square-headed and set on a continuous sill course.

The symmetrical three-bay front elevation features a pair of full-height three-sided canted bay windows flanking the central entrance bay. The entrance has a shouldered opening with moulded architrave surround and keystone, housing original double-leaf woodgrained doors with diamond-faced panels. The doors open onto a sandstone step and concrete platform supporting an elaborate cast-iron verandah, whose roof covering is now missing. Four concrete steps, flanked by low sandstone plinth walls and copings, descend from this verandah.

The south side elevation is three bays wide with a partially exposed basement level. A full-height three-sided canted projecting bay window sits to the left, with a ground floor over basement canted bay window to the right. The rear elevation is abutted by a four-bay two-storey with attic rendered return. This return has a pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney-stacks, and lead-lined bonneted dormers featuring round-arched windows. A large chimney-stack rises from the rear western gable, with a pair of diminutive round-headed window openings at attic level. The ground floor of the return opens onto a sunken paved area with a rubblestone retaining wall to the north and a modern concrete retaining wall to the west.

The north side elevation mirrors the south, with a large projecting bay to the right and no bay window to the left.

The site is accessed via a long winding bitumac avenue through mature former grounds. This opens onto Strand Road to the southeast via a pair of rock-faced concrete block screen walls, each having original sandstone ashlar pillars (repositioned during renovations). The southern pillar retains an original cast-iron hinge in the form of a fist.

Adjacent to the entrance stands the former gate lodge to Aberfoyle House, also built around 1845. It is square on plan facing north and has been abutted to east and west by modern extensions (2000–2001). The original external fabric, including render and windows, has been largely replaced, and the entrance has been relocated to the adjoining extension. However, its pyramidal roof form and diagonally-set chimney stack remain.

To the northeast, further along Strand Road, sits a gate screen belonging to the original Aberfoyle House. It features impressive square ashlar sandstone pillars with pyramidal caps, flanked by rubble stone walling on an S-plan with sandstone coping. This gate screen remains within the Magee Campus. The original Aberfoyle House (renamed Talbot House in 1929 by Sir Basil McFarland) and its gate lodge have been demolished. Sir Basil McFarland purchased Richmond House, the present Aberfoyle House, in 1929 and assigned it the name Aberfoyle House.