Hensol House

Hensol House is a large house constructed in 1822, designed by Robert Lugar and built for John Cunningham of Lainshaw, Ayr. The main house is a two-storey and attic structure, featuring a square block with angle turrets, and a lower, L-shaped service wing. The house remains largely intact, with the most significant external alteration being the replacement of the original south front porch around 1960 with a granite, timber, and glass conservatory. The original porch has been reconstructed on the north front to create a new main entrance into the old service quarters.

The main block is square with three-storey ogee-roofed square turrets at the angles. The exterior is rock-faced granite with polished window margins and hoodmoulds. The south elevation features a three-bay design with a prominently advanced gabled centre bay. The modern conservatory has a granite base, timber and glass panels, and a slate roof. Above the conservatory is a canted corbelled oriel with a gable. The conservatory is flanked by tripartite windows at ground level, with a single light window above. The east elevation has two asymmetrical gabled bays; the left bay is slightly advanced with a tripartite window at ground level and a single light window above. The right bay has two single light windows at ground level and a corbelled oriel above (although Lugar’s original drawings show an ornamental parapet for the oriel that was never built). The north elevation is three bays, with the centre bay recessed and the outer bays gabled. The right bay includes a tripartite window at ground level, and the remaining windows are single-light, with the first window on the right having replaced four-pane glazing. The angle turrets have lead ogee roofs and slit windows with diamond-pane glazing.

The T-plan service wing is two storeys high with pedimented dormers. The west wing is taller and gabled, and has a five-bay south elevation with a circa 1919 single-story extension to the inner three bays. This extension features bipartites flanking a tripartite window and a deep, plain parapet with a flat roof. A variety of glazing patterns are present throughout the house. The original design incorporated mullioned and transomed windows with 2, 4, or 6-pane glazing, along with some 12-pane or 4-pane sash and case windows. The servants' wing has mullioned and transomed windows with diamond-pane glazing, some with lower portions of plate glass. The house is topped with slate roofs and has tall granite stacks, often in groups of three or four, which contribute to a distinctive roofline.

The interior of the house is largely unaltered. A notable feature is a Gothic hallway with a four-centre rib-vaulted ceiling. Many of the doors, shutters, cornices, etc. are original to Lugar's design.