Ardmore House, Cardross

The building is an 18th century house with an addition from 1806, incorporating an earlier structure. It is a two-storey, five-bay, T-plan house constructed of stucco with painted ashlar margins and dressings, featuring eaves bands, quoin strips, and a blocking course.

The south elevation is the main facade and features a central round tower with a crenellated parapet. A door is framed by bowed, applied paired pilasters and an entablature, leading to a two-leaf panelled door surmounted by a large sunburst fanlight. Above the door is a tripartite window, and at a higher level, a Diocletian window with blind sidelights. Flanking bays are slightly advanced with broad windows; wide bays are situated to the outer right and left. These bays contain tripartite windows at ground level and Diocletian windows above, again with blind sidelights.

The west elevation displays two bays symmetrically arranged, with two blind doors at ground level and symmetrically disposed upper windows. An eight-pane casement window is positioned to the right of the elevation. The east elevation mirrors this symmetry, with blind doors at ground level and symmetrically disposed windows at first floor.

The north, or rear, elevation has a piend-roofed projecting wing at its centre, featuring a tripartite window at ground level and a Diocletian window above. Lean-to infills fill the re-entrant angles, masking link bays at ground level. The outer bays of this elevation have tripartite windows at ground level and Diocletian windows above.

The windows are 12-pane sash and case windows, with a 3-pane over 6-pane configuration at the first floor. The roof is a grey slate piend with a platform roof and lead flashings, and broad coped ridge stacks are present. The interior was not inspected in 1995.

An early 19th century observatory is located to the north of the house, at the end of a former planned path. It is a ruinous telescope tower of circular plan, with a central tower encircled by a wall. Constructed of red sandstone, the tower has joist sockets on the external face of the outer wall at ground level, suggesting a possible originally wooden viewing platform. The tower comprises three concentric circles; a narrow central tower rises to an upper viewing room, accessible by a stone spiral stair.

A low, circular-plan building stands on the cliff top near the edge to the west of the house, aligned with the roof of the tall tower at the base of the cliff (listed separately). Its original function is unknown, though it may have been a horse-mill, and is now used as a store. The building is constructed of rubble with harl-pointing, featuring small rectangular windows regularly disposed directly below the eaves. One window is blocked; the remaining windows have modern glazing. A large, modern boarded garage door is on the south-east elevation, leading to a path. A small rectangular-plan opening above the cliff edge functions as a drainage outlet. The conical roof is of deep grey slate, with a lead finial.