Devanha House, 12, 14 Devanha Gardens, Ferryhill, Aberdeen

Devanha House is a large, two-storey and basement Regency house built in 1813 and extended in 1840 by Archibald Simpson. Located at 12 and 14 Devanha Gardens, Ferryhill, Aberdeen, it is a building of group value.

The house is rendered and painted, with a granite ashlar base course. It features projecting cills, a moulded eaves cornice, and overhanging eaves. The north (entrance) elevation is symmetrical, with a pedimented tetrastyle Greek Doric porch projecting from the centre of the ground floor. This porch contains a two-leaf glazed and panelled timber door with a letterbox fanlight, with a two-light window above. The pediment above the door is stepped up, featuring a bull’s-eye window positioned centrally and flanked by six-pointed mullets. A panelled timber door with a two-pane fanlight is located to the right of the ground floor entrance bay, while the remaining bays have regular fenestration.

The west elevation is near-symmetrical and three-bay, with bowed, pilastered bays. A bowed recess is centrally located on the ground floor, featuring scrolled consoles supporting a modillion moulded cornice, with a small window to the left. A window is centred above this recess, and there are windows to the basement, ground, and first floors of the flanking bays.

The south elevation is symmetrical, with three bowed bays in the centre through both the ground and first floors, and a trellis verandah projecting from the ground floor.

The east elevation is also symmetrical and features three bowed, pilastered bays. The central bay has two blind windows on the ground and first floors, while the basement, ground, and first floors of the flanking bays have regular fenestration.

The majority of the windows are four-pane timber sash and case windows. The roof is piended and covered in grey slate with lead ridges. Corniced ridge stacks have octagonal cans, and cast-iron rainwater goods are present.

The interior includes an encaustic tiled patterned floor, corner pilasters, and shutters to the entrance hall. The drawing room features plasterwork, working shutters, and full-height balcony windows. The dining room is an apsidal-ended room containing a massive timber column screen, elaborate plasterwork, a compartmented ceiling, and shutters with a Greek key motif, alongside a later chimneypiece. Throughout the house, various plain chimney pieces are present, along with a simple staircase.

Low, coped granite boundary walls enclose the property, with square-plan piers to the west featuring pyramidal caps. Iron railings are located to the north.