Ardchoille

Ardchoille is a 2-storey Arts and Crafts villa designed by William Leiper in 1901. The building is asymmetrical and gabled with a rectangular plan forming an L-shape, incorporating a single-storey service wing. It is constructed of squared and snecked red sandstone with a cement-harled upper storey. The ground floor features stone mullions and transoms for windows with chamfered reveals, while timber windows sit directly under the eaves with red sandstone margins. The design incorporates half-timbering and red tile-hanging as decorative features.

The southeast (entrance) elevation is the most complex, with 5 bays asymmetrically disposed. An M-gable projects to the outer left, with a gabled and bargeboarded porch at ground level to the right of this gable, featuring a round-headed door. A polygonal oriel clasps the corner at first floor level. Two bipartite windows occupy the ground floor of the penultimate gable, with a quadripartite timber window above. A canted stair tower stands at the centre with a harled base and sandstone upper floor, topped by tall transomed windows. To the right of this, the penultimate bay contains 3 windows at ground level (comprising 4-pane over plate glass sash and case windows) and a tripartite window at first floor, with a swept-roofed quadripartite dormer above featuring small 4-pane windows. A slightly advanced gable to the outer right has 3 windows at both ground and first floor levels, with a half-timbered gable containing a multi-paned window. A single-storey service jamb abuts to the outer right, with a round-headed gabled door of two leaves clasping the corner of the gable. A tripartite window occupies the outer right, and a pedestrian archway links to a gabled garage block featuring a round-headed door and a round-headed niche in the gablehead.

The southwest (garden) elevation comprises a 3-bay main block with a slightly lower bay recessed to the outer left. A full-height canted corner bay rises at the right, with a sandstone ground floor, tile-hung apron, and plate glass upper windows beneath a tiled roof crowned with a lead finial. To the left of this bay, a bipartite window occupies the ground floor with a half-glazed door to its left, whilst a bipartite multi-paned window sits at first floor with a tripartite swept-roofed dormer above. A full-height canted bay to the left incorporates a half-timbered gable, containing a bipartite window to the ground floor and a blank upper floor. Another full-height canted bay at the outer left is similarly half-timbered and gabled. The outer left block, recessed further to the left, features a lean-to conservatory masking an aluminium door at ground level, with a tripartite multi-paned window at first floor and a rendered pilaster at the corner.

The northeast elevation displays 3 asymmetrically disposed bays. A tall, broad, squared and snecked sandstone chimney stack to the outer left is cement-rendered with a coped original stack featuring deep chamfered arrises. A full-height shallow canted bay clasps to the right, with plate glass windows at ground beneath a sandstone mullion and a deep tile-hung apron canopy above; a canted window sits directly under the eaves at first floor. Small bipartite and single windows at ground level to the right are united under an ashlar lintel.

Throughout the building, window glazing includes leaded ground floor windows and a leaded window in the stair tower, plate glass casement windows, 4-pane over plate glass windows, and multi-paned windows. The roof is laid in red tiles with red tile ridging and lead finials. Broad, tall, coped cement-rendered ridge and wallhead stacks are complemented by low circular terracotta cans.

The interior is wood-panelled throughout. A stair hall occupies the right side and features a large ashlar fireplace. The main ground floor to the south is panelled and contains a window seat.

The gatepiers are constructed of harled rubble drum piers with sandstone cornices and pyramidal caps encrusted with quartz and sea pebbles.