Pitkerro House

Pitkerro House

A substantial country house of medieval origins, substantially remodelled and extended in the early 20th century. The building dates from 1593, with a drawing room extension added in the mid-19th century, and major reconstruction and embellishment undertaken by architect Sir Robert Lorimer in 1902.

The original castle was built to an irregular plan, consisting of 2 storeys and an attic. It was subsequently enlarged to an L-shape by the addition of a 2-storey wing. The exterior is harled with ashlar dressings and a grey slate roof. Windows are predominantly 12-pane sash and case types, with some smaller casements, all featuring ashlar margins and moulded architraves. The roofline is characterised by coped crowstepped gables with skewputts, gabled dormerheads with sculpted gables and finial decoration, and corbelled bartizans with moulded eaves courses and conical roofs. Stacks have moulded coping. Cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers complete the external detailing.

On the east elevation of the original castle, a round stair tower at the left re-entrant angle rises and is corbelled to square at attic level, topped with a shaped gable dormerhead. The tower features a squinch arch and small window at 1st floor. The entrance door is positioned at the left re-entrant, moulded with the inscription 'I.D.I.F 1593' on its lintel. Two stair windows serve the tower. The right portion of this elevation features a slightly advanced bay with two narrow windows at ground floor and two 6-pane windows at 1st floor with a swept roof. An advanced gable at the far right contains a door (formed from a window opening) at ground floor, a window at 1st floor, and a 6-pane window at gable level with a large moulded segmental lintel. A single-storey wall at the outer right forms a kitchen court, masking the ground floor of the east gable of the 1902 wing. A wallhead stack is positioned at the right, with a recessed gable stack of the castle further to the right.

The south gable of the original castle contains a 1st floor window at right, a bartizan at left, and a gable stack.

The west elevation facing the garden displays five irregular bays, each with windows at ground, 1st, and attic floors. Bartizans with small 4-pane windows occupy the angles.

The 1902 Lorimer wing represents a comprehensive redesign, incorporating sophisticated architectural detailing throughout. The north elevation features a main block at right and a lower recessed block at left, with a 2-leaf door positioned centrally and flanked by a blocked and corniced doorpiece with a dated and initialled lintel; sculpted heraldic arms are positioned above. A gable at the left return contains windows at ground and 1st floors and an aperture at the gable apex. A 2-bay gable at right displays two windows at each level with a gable stack. A 24-pane stair window at the far right is accompanied by a ground floor window and an adjoining dormerhead. A wallhead stack is present, and a lower flat-roofed canted projection at the outer right features part-traceried windows on its left and right returns, with moulded coping incorporating crown motifs. A similar full-height canted bay at the right return gable contains a 24-pane window at 1st floor, with Tudor rose motifs at the wallhead and a gargoyle waterspout. The block at far left includes a slightly advanced gable at right with two 15-pane windows at ground floor and a window with large moulded segmental lintel at gable. At the left return gable, a tile-hung bay at ground floor level links to the original castle; the upper portion displays three 1st floor windows with an arrangement of heraldic arms at the gable.

The south elevation of the 1902 wing features advanced paired gables at off-centre right, with a 16-pane window at ground floor left, a window at 1st, and two windows at each level to the right of the gables. Apertures at the gables display mannered ornamental motifs, whilst a thistle motif adorns the centre valley and a dormerhead occupies the left return. A lower recessed bay at right contains two ground floor windows and a paired segmental window at the tile-hung 1st floor. At the left re-entrant angle, a round tower features a bowed window at ground floor and a 4-pane window at 1st floor, with a scale and platt forestair and cast-iron railings providing access to a 1st floor door. A further recessed 2-bay block at left contains two bipartite windows with moulded architraves at ground floor and two dormerheads at 1st floor. A sundial with hour glass motif, dated 1903, is positioned at the left angle. A projecting glazed screen shelters a paved terrace.

The interior of the original castle contains barrel vaulted rooms at ground floor, with a rebuilt kitchen chimneypiece. The 1902 wing incorporates a panelled hall with decorative plasterwork at ceiling and a well stair with grape motif baluster panels. The dining room has been subdivided. A chapel at sunken ground floor level features an inscribed ogival-headed entrance doorpiece, with a niche above containing a figure of the Virgin and child (possibly of Aberdeen provenance). The chapel is decorated with turquoise green painted ceiling and wall panelling, a gilt reredos carved with grape vine and bird motifs, a copy of Gozzoli's Annunciation, gilt ceiling cornicing, and confessional decoration. A pointed ashlar arch marks the original sanctuary, which contains two stained glass windows depicting the Annunciation. A keystoned segmental arch defines the present sanctuary. The 1st floor drawing room above the chapel features a wagon roof with Lorimer's characteristic vine tympanum decoration. An adjoining panelled boudoir has a domed ceiling.

The garden includes various boundary walls including a raised ha-ha at the south. A ruined square-plan 17th century rubble dovecot stands on the banks of the Murroes burn.