Knock Bay House, Kilkerran Road, Campbeltown

Knock Bay House, Kilkerran Road, Campbeltown

Built in 1893 with slight alterations of circa 1910, this is a 2-storey and attic house of asymmetrical, rectangular plan showing Arts and Crafts influence. The principal elevation faces northeast.

The walls are constructed of bull-faced, squared and snecked sandstone ashlar with droved ashlar dressings to the front and side elevations. The rear elevation is harled with droved ashlar dressings.

The northeast principal elevation comprises three wide bays. The centre bay features an entrance door at ground floor, approached by ashlar steps and flanked by dwarf walls with strapped ball finials. The doorway itself is 3-pointed arched, containing a 5-panel timber door with flanking small windows, and a 3-light mullioned window above. The flanking gabled bays contain projecting parapet bay windows at ground floor—the left bay is tripartite with sidelights and a bipartite window at first floor; the right bay is 5-light and canted with a mullioned tripartite window at first floor and a narrow window centring the gablehead. A service wing projects to the right, fitted with a mullioned tripartite window.

The southeast elevation is asymmetrical, with a wallhead stack to the right of centre. A single-storey and attic bay occupies the left, blank at ground floor with a pedimented stone dormerhead breaking the eaves at first floor. A 2-storey bay to the right has a parapet at eaves.

The southwest rear elevation is asymmetrical across three wide bays, with a stair window offset to the left at first floor of the centre bay. Modern brick and concrete steps and porch rise at ground floor to the right side of the bay. Gabled bays to left and right contain irregularly fenestrated openings; the right bay has a tripartite window at ground floor. A single-storey service wing projects to the left with a lean-to porch flanked by windows.

The northwest elevation features a full-height stack advanced at the centre, with a single-storey and attic bay to the right. Applied half timbering with paired 9-pane windows appears in the gablehead of a service wing projecting at the right.

Windows are predominantly timber sash and case, with plate glass at ground floor and multi-pane upper sashes at first floor of the entrance front and side elevations. The rear elevation and service wing feature predominantly plate glass and 4-pane timber sash and case windows. A 4-pane stair window has leaded glazing.

The roof is of purple grey slate with timber barge. Slate-hung timber box dormers with 4-pane timber sash and case windows are positioned adjacent to bull-faced sandstone wallhead stacks at the side elevations, coped with circular cans.

The interior retains many original fittings, including panelled shutters and 5-panel doors. The entrance vestibule and hall are lined with vertically-boarded panelling. A timber principal staircase with turned spindles and newels rises through the house (the lower flight has been renewed as original). The drawing room contains early 20th-century plasterwork with a swagged frieze and a later chimneypiece. The dining room has a timber chimneypiece of 1995. A timber attic stair in an arcaded enclosure with flanking recesses serves the bedrooms. The bedrooms feature coved ceilings. The service wing contains a scullery with a maid's bedroom above.

The boundary comprises random rubble walls to the north, west and south. A random rubble retaining wall adjoins Kilkerran Road, with circular bull-faced sandstone gatepiers finished with droved ashlar cornices and conical caps on ball feet. A 2-leaf timber gate with iron hinges and matching pedestrian gate occupy the main entrance. Free-standing 2-leaf cast-iron gates, removed from Davaar House, stand to the west in the garden.