Knockderry House, Cove And Kilcreggan

Knockderry House is a substantial residence dating possibly to the mid-19th century, substantially altered in the late 19th century by the architect William Leiper. It is an L-plan Arts and Crafts house with half-timbering details at principal floor level.

The house is constructed of whinstone with harl pointing, ashlar margins and dressings. It features chamfered reveals, a base course, string course, and eaves course throughout.

The main (west) elevation presents an asymmetrical facade. At the centre stands a 3-stage, helm-roofed tower-bay with a porch to its right in the re-entrant angle, and a round stair tower rises on the right return. A lower gabled block extends to the outer right, and a lower block to the outer left is terminated by a canted corner bay. The central tower bay contains a full-height, half-piend roofed, canted window extending from ground to first floor. Above this sits an attic with a turret jettied out to the left, featuring a candle-snuffer roof and stop-chamfered detailing to the right. The porch to the right has steps and ashlar balusters leading to a round-headed doorway with hoodmould and plaque above; it features an ashlar parapet. The round stair tower rising behind has a narrow tripartite window at principal floor level, string course, and gun-loops, with two windows at the upper stage and a candle-snuffer roof. The lower gabled bay to the outer right has a tripartite window off-centre to the left at ground level, an ashlar corner post with a bipartite window on the right return, ashlar transoms and mullions, and a half-timbered, gabled attic storey with two bipartite casement windows. A bowed window to the left of the tower supports a wooden balustraded verandah with a candle-snuffer roof against a crowstepped gable breaking the eaves; bipartite round-headed windows at principal floor level light this section. A broad facetted-roofed corner bay to the outer left features a half-timbered upper floor, with three symmetrical facets and bipartite transomed and mullioned windows at ground level, the central one now altered as a door; dormer-headed bipartite windows at upper floor with wooden transoms and mullions, and a bargeboarded gable with decorative finials.

The south elevation features a narrow M-gable to the outer left with a canted bay window at centre ground and a window to the right at first floor, with blind arrowslits in the gablehead. A broad gable slightly recessed to the right has a window to the left, bipartite to the right at ground; a canted, slate-hung oriel rises above to the right, with a window at centre in the gablehead and blind arrowslit above. The curved outer right corner has a recessed jamb with a segmental-headed arched pend, a window to the right, and a bipartite window at centre with moulded cill. The outer right block has an upper half-timbered floor and a mansard, slate-hung attic storey.

The north elevation is asymmetrical and slightly obscured by modern fire escapes. A canted corner bay advances to the outer right; a gabled, half-timbered block sits in the re-entrant angle to the left; a crowstepped gable stands to the left, with a jerkin-headed block slightly advanced to the left and a half-timbered addition to the outer left. Ashlar steps at the rear have cast-iron barley-sugar balusters.

Windows throughout comprise leaded sash and case windows on the ground floor and multi-paned casement windows on the upper floor, with plate glass sash and case windows on the side elevations. The roof is of grey slate with lead flashings and lead finials. Square cast-iron rainwater goods appear on the right return of the porch. Slender, corniced apex stacks with round cans and a broad, corniced wallhead stack on the left return of the tower punctuate the roofline. Ashlar ventilation grids appear in the base course.

The interior includes a vestibule with wooden stair. The ground floor of the tower has a beamed ceiling and decorative leaded glass in the upper panes of the bay window. A large room opening to the right, now used as a bar, features a highly ornate arched inglenook and an ornate wooden screen enclosing the area of the canted window, with panelled and corniced walls and embossed paper. The dining room to the right of the hall has oak dado panelling, panelled doors, and an ornate wooden chimneypiece.

The boundary wall is of whinstone with harl pointing, stepped and raised over small pebble-lined niches with boulder coping. Drum gatepiers have blind arrowslits in their lower parts, moulded string courses, and corniced candle-snuffer caps with ashlar ball finials—the finial on the right pier is missing. A diminutive whinstone and sea pebble wall marks a culverted stream in the garden.