South Lodge, Cairness House

South Lodge, Cairness House is a pair of lodges, gates, and railings designed in circa 1791-97 by James Playfair, and erected in 1891 to mark the centenary of Cairness House, completing the overall design. They form an outstanding principal approach to Cairness House. The lodges are single-storey, square-plan pavilions with pavilion roofs and pedimented centres, incorporating arched windows set in arched recesses and flanked by niches. They are constructed of ashlar with a rock-faced base course, incised frieze, cornice, blocking course, and fluted central stacks. Low walls with inset decorative ironwork railings link monolithic rusticated square-section gatepiers and sphinxes. Lawns are situated to the front of the principal south elevation, bordered by boundary walls abutting the outer angles, with a small square-headed window and a low-pitched roofed structure against the left-hand wall. The north elevations mirror the south front's pedimented design, and the drive elevations each have a deeply recessed timber door. Four-pane and plate glass glazing patterns are found in timber sash and case windows, and the stacks are coped and circular. Decorative ironwork is present on the two-leaf gates and railings. The lodges and gates form a Group A listed building with Cairness House and its Walled Garden. Historical research has revealed that these lodges were built a century after Playfair's initial design, correcting earlier assumptions about their construction date. Playfair’s design is considered to prefigure the quality of his later work on Cairness House itself, which some describe as "arguably the finest neo-classical mansion in Scotland."