Kilneiss, Moniaive

Kilneiss is a house dating from 1884, reconstructed in the Arts and Crafts style by Sir John J Burnet of Glasgow, for the artist James Paterson. It is now an irregular single-storey and attic house with a two-storey rear wing, linked by a porch and conservatory, creating a patio open to the south. The majority of the exterior is harled, with ashlar dressings and some timber framing. The building incorporates a variety of roof types and levels, mostly with projecting eaves. Windows are generally small-paned.

The west wall features an open timber porch, with a window above accentuated by bracketed timber dormer heads. The south elevation has outer bays canted at ground floor level, with the right-hand bay also canted at attic level. The upper portion of this bay is tile-hung with a faceted roof. An attic gable is jettied above a shallow oriel, the roof sweeping down over an inner bay and supported on a turned wooden column creating an open verandah. The keystone of a single oculus behind this is a marriage stone, dated and bearing the initials of James Paterson and Elica Ferguson.

The rear wing has a crow-stepped gable at the north end of its west wall, and an inner gable with shaped skews to the north wall. The north-east corner is raised to attic level and corbelled in a Baronial manner. The interior includes an L-shaped dining room at the east with a water leaf cornice and swags of fruit forming a frame on the ceiling; a similarly shaped bedroom is above. A wooden stair features turned balusters, with a stair window opening onto the conservatory. A screen with strapwork decoration leads into the conservatory, and a studio door is beyond. The studio contains a round arched screen at the ingle neuk and a platform at the north end, along with dado panelling and decorative timberwork at eaves and above.

The conservatory and studio are essentially rectangular in plan. The conservatory features a canted ingle-neuk with lying-pane windows on the south gable, and a massive square stack rises above it, along with a small tripartite window in a low shed to the left. The north gable head is open, with vertical glazing pattern, and incorporates roof lights. Slate roofs cover the building. A low, ashlar-coped rubble wall runs along the main road, with a simple iron gate.

The re-modelling and additions to the house were Burnet’s wedding present to James Paterson.