Old Laundry, Kemnay House

The Old Laundry, now Kemnay House, is a building dating from the later 18th century. Originally a washing and brewhouse, it was converted into a dwelling in 1976 and extended in 1983. It is a two-storey, five-bay, rectangular building constructed of coursed, squared granite with cherry caulking, with the rear and extension being harled.

The South East elevation is symmetrical, with small original openings. The ground floor has a window in the centre, boarded timber doors in the flanking bays, and windows in the outer bays; the first floor has regular fenestration. A slightly set-back single-storey extension is to the outer right. The South West elevation features a gabled form with a large window on the first floor. The North West (rear) elevation has two widely-spaced bays towards the left centre, with windows on each floor, and a further window on the first floor to the right. All openings are relatively small, and there are three small modern rooflights. An extension is set-back to the outer left. A single-storey extension projects from the gabled North East elevation.

Windows are timber casements with a nine-pane glazing pattern on the North and South sides, and a twelve-pane timber sash and case window on the West side. The roof is covered with grey slates, and the building has coped ashlar gablehead stacks. The skews are ashlar-coped with block skewputts.

The building was formerly listed as 'Block of Offices 70yds N of House'. It does not appear on George Burnett’s 1759 'Plan of Kemnay Farm, Gardens and New Ground', but is shown on the 1790 'Plan of the Farmlands and Policies of Kemnay'. Located to the North East of Kemnay House, the Old Laundry represents an important early structure within the group of buildings that support Kemnay House. A turf-roofed, drystone rubble, vaulted ice house was formerly situated at the North East elevation of the building.