Raehills House

Raehills House is a large, L-shaped mansion built around 1786, originally designed by Alexander Stevens. The house is dramatically situated above a valley, with terraced gardens below.

The architectural style draws inspiration from Robert Adam’s castellated architecture, featuring small bartizans, machicolated parapets, and crenellations. The original house, largely two storeys high with three-storey central sections on three elevations, has a seven-bay north elevation, with round-headed ground floor openings and a columned porch. A continuous band runs along the impost level. The west flank is constructed of rubble and features tripartite windows with Burlington glazing at ground level.

The principal, east-facing elevation is a pyramid-shaped composition with four receding and diminishing stages, culminating in a three-storey bowed centre. A wide, deep terrace with balustrades is situated at basement level, extending beyond the house on either side, with colonnades – also balustraded – running the full width of the house and embracing the bowed section at the first floor level.

Around 1790, Stevens presumably added superimposed colonnades, potentially as a modification to the original building scheme. William Burn significantly altered the south front between 1830 and 1834, creating a new front which fills the re-entrant angle. This includes a three-storey square tower with a recessed inner bay, a round-arched entrance with an oriel above, and deep corbelling. The original house's flank was recessed and modified by Burn, incorporating a canted window and a castellated gable head. A low service court lies to the northeast.

The colonnaded bow on the east elevation is reminiscent of a similar feature at Culzean, designed by Robert Adam. The interior is of good quality. A sundial located to the east of the house is dated 1837, with indistinct lettering, and shares stylistic similarities with a sundial at Shaw House in Hutton and Corrie. The building is primarily constructed of coursed red ashlar, with slated roofs largely concealed by parapets.