Ardarroch House, Arrochar Road, Finnart

Ardarroch House

William Burn designed this house in 1838, and David Bryce enlarged it in 1846 and 1847. It is a two-storey villa with a rambling plan and asymmetrical gabled form. The walls are rubble with polished sandstone dressings and margins. A base course, quoin strips, projecting eaves with exposed rafters, and varying roof levels are characteristic features. Gabled dormerheads are prominent throughout.

The entrance elevation faces east and comprises six asymmetrical bays. A three-bay main block stands to the left with a lower rambling-plan service wing to the right. An advanced full-height canted bay with a cavetto swept to the gable projects from the outer left. A narrow recessed bay and a slightly advanced gabled bay occupy the centre-right. A broad gabled porch at ground level sits slightly off-centre to the left, with a window above at first-floor level. The entrance door is a two-leaf, half-glazed design with a large rectangular plate glass fanlight. Windows are cut into the right and left returns of the porch. A massy, Baroque sandstone doorpiece to the vestibule features a swan-neck pediment with a decorative escutcheon bearing shell motifs, supported on heavy consoles. Windows are symmetrically disposed in the narrow bay, with a dormerheaded window above. The lower L-plan service wing to the right contains a two-bay recessed block to the right of the entrance bay and a narrow bay to the left. A boarded door with letter-box fanlight occupies the right side, topped by a dormerheaded window. An advanced gabled bay stands to the right. A circular tower, corbelled to square and gabled at first-floor level, projects into a re-entrant angle; windows with fire-proof glass appear at ground level to the right, with a narrow window under the eaves and a single window at the gablehead. A blank wall of gabled form stands to the far right. A broad gable with symmetrically disposed windows dominates the outer section, with a lower, narrower, slightly recessed bay to the outer right and a tall window at ground with a dormerheaded window above.

The west elevation displays five bays arranged with greater symmetry. A gently bowed block at the centre carries three symmetrically disposed windows. Flanking this are advanced full-height canted bays with cavetti swept to gables. A projecting square bay at the centre ground of the left return contains a tripartite window, with the flue of a wallhead stack rising above it. A gabled dormerheaded window stands to the left. Three bays of the north wing are recessed to the left. A broad gable to the outer left has a bipartite window at ground and a single window at first-floor level. Two bays to the right carry gabled dormerheaded windows, with the rightmost bay being narrower.

The south elevation comprises three asymmetrical bays. A square bay at ground level to the outer left holds a tripartite window, with a flue and wallhead stack above. A gabled dormerheaded window projects to the right, with a broad gable beyond to the outer right. A modern rendered flat-roofed extension projects at the outer right. The raggle of a former conservatory's gable remains to the outer right, together with the remains of its plinth and Minton tiles.

The north elevation is cement-rendered with a gabled form. It was formerly joined to the service wing but is now truncated. A modern forestair stands to the outer left, with an asymmetrical M-gable to the outer right containing a door at ground level and a window above.

Throughout the house, windows are six-pane and four-pane sash and case designs, though some have been replaced with plate glass sash and case windows. The roof is grey slate with lead flashings. Numerous tall corniced stacks on pedestal bases stand at wallhead and ridge level.

The interior retains plain egg and dart and anthemion cornices. A rectangular pitched skylight spans the hallway. The staircase is plain in form. Modern office use has resulted in the subdivision of rooms.

An outbuilding stands to the north-east, opposite the house and originally joined to the main structure. It is a single storey block constructed of rubble with stugged sandstone margins and dressings. The west elevation displays three bays with a door positioned off-centre to the right and a window to the right. A segmental archway to the outer left has been blocked as a window. Modern brickwork appears on the right return.