Summerhouse, Blair House, 8 High Street, Kirkcudbright

The summerhouse at Blair House, located at 8 High Street in Kirkcudbright, was built in 1817 for the writer Robert Gordon. This detached house features two storeys over a basement and has three bays. It is constructed of painted squared rubble with painted margins and rusticated quoins. A band course runs at the ground floor level. The central door is flanked by narrow lights with etched glass above a wide segmental fanlight, and is framed by an engaged Ionic columned doorpiece with a central keystone and cornice. Ground floor windows have a cill band and 12-pane glazing, while a cornice and blocking course adorn the top of the building.

The garden front showcases a prominent full-height semi-octagonal central bay that rises through the eaves to a castellated parapet, with a cill band for the first-floor windows. The roof is piended slate. The front courtyard is enclosed by attractive spear-pattern cast-iron railings, square cast-iron gatepiers with finials, and gates featuring decorative lower panels.

Inside, there is a pilastered hall screen with a depressed arch, an octagonal drawing room with naturalistic detail in the cornice, and a good cast-iron stair balustrade. The summerhouse itself is circular and built into the harbour retaining wall, constructed of rubble with Gothic windows and a castellated design.