Dunskey House

Dunskey House

James Kennedy Hunter designed this large mansion house between 1901 and 1904. It comprises three storeys above a basement and is built in the stripped Scottish manorial style, featuring an asymmetrical plan. The exterior is finished in harl with ashlar dressings, and the building is distinguished by crowstepped gables, jettying to the upper floors, and windows with stone mullions in bi- and tripartite arrangements.

The south entrance elevation presents fifteen bays grouped in sets of three. The focal point is an advanced central gable with a forestair and wall leading to the main entrance. This doorway features a roll-moulded central doorpiece with a two-leaf boarded timber door, flanked by windows on the ground, first and second floors. Ball finials crown the gable. The second floor is marked by a projecting cannon spout at the centre. The flanking sections are recessed and contain regular fenestration. Advanced crowstepped gabled bays project at the outer left and right, each with their own sequence of single windows across the three storeys. Basement windows appear in the recessed sections.

The east elevation contains ten bays grouped asymmetrically, with an entrance to garages towards the outer right. A major gabled bay to the outer left rises the full height. A roll-moulded corniced doorpiece with a leaded three-light fanlight serves as a secondary entrance in the left-centre section. The remaining bays contain regular fenestration, with second-floor windows breaking the eaves to form gabled dormers. A coped wall forms the entrance to the courtyard garages, flanked by ball finials and topped by a single ball finial at the corner.

The west elevation spans eight bays grouped in sections of two, four, and two. The recessed central section contains four arched basement entrances, with single windows above at ground floor and regular fenestration at the upper storeys. Second-floor windows break the eaves to form gabled dormers except in one location. Advanced gabled bays flank this central section, with further basement openings, windows, and a tripartite window to the upper storey of the left bay.

The north elevation displays twelve bays in varied groups. An advanced flat-roofed entrance projects at ground level towards the outer right, topped by ball finials flanking a roll-moulded central doorway beneath a circular pediment. Adjacent to this is a flat-roofed canted bay with tripartite windows to the front and bipartites to the sides. Three sets of gabled bays step across the elevation, each containing single windows at ground, first and second floors. A two-bay section to the outer left includes a tripartite attic dormer.

The re-entrant angle to the side contains six bays with its own sequence of single windows at various levels, including a gabled section.

A single-storey garage court to the rear contains six single windows.

Throughout the house, windows are executed as timber sash and case designs with plate glass in 4-, 6-, 12-, and 18-pane arrangements. The roof is covered in grey slate with crowstepped skews, skewputts, and a variety of coped gablehead and ridge stacks topped with circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods complete the external fittings.

A square stone sundial with a vertical dial and gnomon stands on the south elevation.

The interior was not examined at the time of recording in 1997.