Carnsalloch House

Carnsalloch House is a Palladian mansion house dating to 1759, as indicated on the north wing. It is a two-storey building with a raised basement and flanking wings, constructed entirely of red ashlar. The east elevation has three bays, featuring an early 19th century central porch with pilasters, a panelled and studded door within a pedimented doorpiece. Flanking the porch are 12-pane sashes in architraves, which have cornices and pulvinated friezes. At the principal floor, there are three Burlington windows set within round-arched panels. Ionic columns, set on plinths which likely originally terminated in blind balustrades, surround these windows. Above, square, architraved windows contain 6-pane sashes. Continuous bands run along the base of the house and at ground floor level, topped by a mutule cornice, a blocking course, and two symmetrically placed stacks. The roof is covered in piended slate.

The flanking wings each feature a single bay to the east, with 12-pane sashes, and are linked to the main house by a quadrant wall. This wall incorporates a corniced, architraved, and panelled door set between alcove niches. The inner part of the north wing is of earlier construction and is rendered, with advanced inner bays gabled on the north elevation and a five-bay south front. Modern additions have been made to the north and south of the wings. Low-level alterations and fire escapes are present on the rear elevation, along with a narrow lean-to service corridor linking the wings. The roofs of the wings are piended with graded slates.

The interior contains decorative ceiling plasterwork from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly in the halls and ground floor rooms, while the top floor rooms are more plainly finished. A modern lift shaft within the stairwell obscures many of the original anthemion-patterned silhouette balusters. Some painted raised and fielded wooden panelling remains in the earlier part of the house.

Carnsalloch House was built for Alexander Johnstone of Carnsalloch, a London-based chemist. It is speculated that a London architect, possibly Isaac Ware, may have been involved, based on a published design attributed to him. The house is now operated as a home run by the Leonard Cheshire Organisation. Information regarding the property is further detailed in the Scottish Register of Historic Buildings record SRO RHP 4417 (1911 sale catalogue) and in the Scottish Field, April 1957.