Stables, Torwoodhill, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu

Stables, Torwoodhill

This is an early 19th-century house of two storeys, asymmetrical and rambling in plan, arranged in an L-shape with gabled elements. The design incorporates Tudor and Baronial details. The walls are white painted harl with ashlar margins and dressings, featuring chamfered reveals, base course and string course. Slender, attenuated pepperpot turrets frame the gables, and decorative bargeboards ornament the eaves.

The south-west (garden) elevation overlooks a terrace and comprises a three-bay main block with a later single-storey bay to the outer right. An advanced gable to the outer left contains a tripartite window at ground floor with a timber bipartite window at first floor. Two gabled dormer-headed windows are symmetrically disposed in the centre bay, with a door at ground floor, modernly glazed with sidelight to the left and a rectangular fanlight above. An advanced, broader gable to the outer right contains a tripartite window at ground floor and a smaller tripartite window at first floor with masonry mullions and transoms. A single-storey, projecting, canted bay is attached to the right, with a bipartite window and piended roof.

The south-east elevation is seven bays of asymmetrical composition. A two-bay single-storey block to the outer left contains bipartite windows, with a connecting entrance bay recessed to the right where steps lead to a door sheltered by a glazed canopy on cast-iron brackets, with a window to the left. An advanced, full-height, canted bay projects to the right (modern bull's-eye glass), with a bipartite window at ground floor on the left return and a dormer-headed window with bipartite window on the right return. Three gables are recessed to the right, with a broad gable at the centre containing symmetrically disposed windows at first floor and a door at ground floor to the outer right with a window to the left. Two flanking gables follow: that to the left contains a window at ground floor and a smaller window at first floor, whilst the outer right gable has enlarged windows at both ground and first floor levels. A single-storey advanced block to the north-east forms the rear elevation of the original coach house.

The north-west (entrance) elevation features an advanced block to the right and a long wing to the left, with an entrance bay deeply recessed within a re-entrant angle. A full-height, squat stair-tower rises here, with a tall stair window of five-lying-pane glazing with border glass, a blank plaque above, and a small window to the left at tower base. The tower has a candle-snuffer roof of fish-scale slate with deep lead flashing and finial. The entrance to the left contains a four-panelled door to the right with a window to the left, and a dormer-headed window symmetrically disposed above. An advanced gable to the left contains a tripartite window at ground floor and a single window at first floor. A recessed two-bay block to the right is flat-roofed with a blocking course and a tripartite window recessed above. A gable to the left contains a round-headed door to the right with a bipartite window to the left and a window symmetrically disposed in the gable head. An advanced gabled bay to the outer left has a bipartite window at the gable head. A rectangular opening punched through on the right return is now glazed as a garage and storage area. An advanced M-gable block to the outer right has a conservatory built against its west elevation. This block contains windows at ground floor to the left and right bays, a tripartite window at first floor to the outer right, and two windows at first floor in the left gable. An asymmetrical gable faces north, its right bartizan removed; it contains a window at the centre ground floor, a window to the right with stepped hood-mould (modern glazing), and two windows to the right at first floor. A link bay recessed to the left connects to the tower, with a bipartite window at ground floor (fixed lying-pane glazing with border glass) and a dormer-headed window above.

The fenestration comprises 12-pane sash and case windows, plate glass sash and case windows, and lying-pane glazing throughout. The roof is grey slate with lead flashings. Decorative diminutive lead conical roofs crown the bartizans, and corniced ridge stacks with octagonal cans terminate the chimney heads.

The interior was not inspected as of 1993.

A late 19th-century conservatory stands on the north-west gable, built on a harled base. It features a timber arcade of tripartite shoulder-arched windows, with six green fixed panes above each tripartite panel. A door to the right return is lower-panelled with a bipartite glazed upper section and flanked by bipartite arches; a service door is at the left return. The conservatory has a glazed, half-piend and platform roof.

The garage and stores occupy the former coach house to the north-east. The original court of the coach house was glazed over to form a garage around the early 20th century. A simple original stable at the east contains a coach door at ground floor, with a half-piend and hayloft door at the centre. Garage and stores to the right and left are boarded with sliding doors featuring fixed-pane uppers. A glazed roof is carried on cast-iron supports.