Duntrune House

Duntrune House

A substantial country house designed by William Burn in 1826, built in plain Tudor style on a falling site. The building comprises a main block of 2 storeys with basement, supplemented by single, 2- and 3-storey service wings. The service wing was extended in the early 20th century. The house is constructed in sandstone ashlar with droved angles and has a grey slate roof.

The principal decorative features include a base course running across the south, east and west elevations, and a string course at first floor level on the south and east elevations. Windows are predominantly bi- and tripartite with chamfered and cavetto moulded margins and mullions. Originally fitted with lying-pane glazing in sash and case frames, most windows have been replaced with plate glass. First floor windows of the main house feature gabled dormerheads with scroll skewputts and gabletted coping; the south elevation includes arrow slit ventilators. Gabled skew gables, some with finials and others with corbelled single and linked diagonal gable stacks positioned at ridges and wallheads, provide further architectural interest. The rainwater goods are plain cast iron, with a decorative hopper at the entrance porch.

The east elevation is asymmetrical across three bays. A single-storey gabled entrance porch occupies the centre, approached by steps with open-work balustrade and ball-finialled dies. The porch has a 2-leaf panelled and studded door with moulded doorcase, a heraldic panel above with stepped hoodmould, and a recessed bipartite window to the left. Above, a recessed main gable contains a bipartite window with a small round-headed and shouldered window to the left. A single-storey gable at the right forms the upper floor of the north elevation service block and contains a bipartite window, slightly recessed. An advanced gable on the left displays a blind tripartite ground floor window with painted astragals and a tripartite window at first floor, with a gable stack.

The south elevation is nearly symmetrical across five bays. Two bays at the right are slightly advanced, each with tripartite windows at ground and first floor levels. To the left, three bays include an advanced 5-light rectangular window at ground level with panelled frieze and coped parapet, and a tripartite window at the right with entrance steps. Three bipartite windows line the first floor.

The west elevation retains three original bays at the right. A recessed centre bay contains bipartite windows at basement and ground level. A slightly advanced gable to the right displays tripartite windows at both ground and first floor with a gable stack. A further advanced gable at the left has an advanced covered basement with tripartite windows at ground and first floor levels and a gable stack; a tripartite window appears at the ground floor right return, with a bipartite at first floor. Three additional service bays, added in the early 20th century, project further to the left. The covered basement continues at the right, with a centre gable containing tripartite windows at both levels, bipartites in the flanking bays at both levels, and further bays to the left featuring a basement bipartite and modern first floor addition.

The north elevation has been significantly altered. It displays basement and two full storeys with various windows in differing styles and materials, including 12-pane, lying-pane, plate-glass and uPVC framed sash and case windows, and a leaded stair window. The early 20th century service wing projects at the right with doors and various windows. An original larder or dairy at the left retains a stone shelf and internal louvred vent at the window.

The interior features moulded cornices and original chimneypieces in several rooms. A well stair is fitted with decorative cast-iron balusters and octagonal timber newel posts. Two bathrooms are notable: one at the west end fitted with Delft-style tiles, and another at the east in Art-Deco style. Vaulted cellars extend beneath the house.

The setting includes ancillary landscape features of significance. A long dry-stone ha-ha runs along the south front, punctuated by a set of projecting steps, which may predate the present house. Two sets of terrace steps with coped balustrade and ball-finialled dies provide access to the garden. A dry stone wall at the west contains four bee-boles. The entrance is marked by two ashlar gatepiers with moulded caps and ball finials, flanked by two angle dies decorated with sweeping quadrants and roll-moulded coping terminating in pyramidal capped piers.