Gordon House (formerly The Cottage), Hillside

Gordon House (formerly The Cottage) is a multi-phase detached house located in the village of Hillside near Montrose. The building combines three distinct periods of construction: an 18th-century brick-built range to the east, a circa 1820s cottage orné-style house forming the main dwelling, and an 1859 gable-fronted extension connecting the two earlier structures. Later 20th-century additions include a mono-pitched porch on the north elevation (1960s) and a single-storey store at the east end (1980s). Throughout, the walls are harled and painted with contrasting cills and margins.

The main 1820s range is single-storey with basement and attic. Its north elevation displays twin jerkin-head gables with gothick-style pointed-arch openings and tripartite attic openings. The modern mono-pitched entrance porch spans between the projecting gables and features replacement doors and large fixed 16-pane flanking windows. The south elevation has a three-bay bowed window to the centre and later door openings on either side. The piended slate roof has exposed rafter tails to the eaves and is topped by a pair of diamond-shaped ashlar chimneystacks with tall octagonal clay cans above each north gable. Two further rendered chimneystacks with matching cans sit on the front and rear ridge. Windows on the north elevation are largely latticed with cavetto surrounds; those on the south are six-over-six timber sash and case.

The 1859 extension is L-shaped in plan, abutting the east elevation of the main house. Its two-storey north and south elevations are gable-fronted, with a single-storey range to the east comprising a two-bay mono-pitched range to the north and a single crenellated bay to the south. The pitched slate roof has exposed rafter tails to the eaves. Windows are predominantly four-over-four or six-over-six timber sash and case.

The 18th-century range adjoins the east elevation of the 1859 extension. It is rectangular in plan with regular openings to the two-bay south elevation. The north elevation is blank, abutted by the mid-19th-century extension, and the blank east elevation is now abutted by a single-storey pitched-roof addition from the 1980s.

Internally, the 18th-century section has been stripped back to exposed brickwork. Surviving stone floor slabs and two fireplaces appear to date from the 18th century.

The former coachhouse, stable and Groom's house (known as Tower Cottage) stands immediately to the west, designed in similar gothick cottage orné style and listed separately. The two buildings are now separated by a detached 2002 garage.