Ferncroft, 8 Panmure Terrace, Barnhill, Dundee

Ferncroft, 8 Panmure Terrace, Barnhill, Dundee

This 2-storey Arts and Crafts style house was designed by Patrick Thoms and William Wilkie and completed in 1913. A garage block was added in 1916. The building has an irregular plan and features harled brick with polished stone dressings, a partial base course, and a red tile roof. The main design elements include gabled forms with narrow attic lights and Lorimerian apex detail, shouldered gables, tall stone-coped stacks with uniform clay cans, deep eaves, and windows that are mainly 6-pane casements with chamfered reveals and hoppers decorated with Tudor rose motifs. The roof is piended.

The north (entrance) elevation comprises a 3-bay main block on the right, with a corner loggia formed by a round-headed arch at the north-west corner. A 2-leaf door and bipartite window occupy the ground floor at left, with a tripartite window above. A single-storey modern flat-roofed projection extends to the left, converted to a kitchen and dining room by Nicoll Russell Studio, Broughty Ferry, in 1987. Three keystoned and glazed arches to the west echo the loggia found on the south elevation, with a coped wallhead above; the north elevation itself is blank. At first floor, a slightly advanced gable sits to the left with an angle stack and bipartite stair window, while a flat-roofed bay at the centre features a bipartite window and modern rooflight.

The south elevation displays 4 symmetrical bays above the base course. The first and third bays are gabled and advanced, linked by an arcaded loggia (later glazing) with a corbelled parapet. A tripartite window is set back at first-floor level. The gabled bays at left feature a 4-light window at ground floor and tripartite window at first floor, with a glazed door opening to a balcony. The gabled bay at right is detailed similarly but with a shallow 5-light window at ground floor and a 3-light window at first floor. A set-back bay at the outer right contains a tripartite window at ground floor and bipartite at first floor. A large hopper dated 1913 is visible on this elevation.

The east elevation is asymmetrical and features an advanced entrance porch with piended roof swept into the main pitch at the centre right. A full-height gabled stair bay clasps the centre, with a single window on the return and stair window at first floor. A set-back bay at left has a bipartite window at ground floor and two windows at first floor. A tripartite window and further door appear at right, with a piended dormer.

The west elevation is also asymmetrical. An arch appears at the left. A chimney-breast occupies the centre, part corbelled at first floor, with a set-back window at ground floor and shouldered wallhead stack above. A set-back bay at right contains a bipartite window at ground floor and single window at first floor.

Outbuildings include a split-level detached garage with piended roof sited to the far left, and a single-storey service block with attic at the centre. The service block features a bipartite window at left and piended roof, with two piended dormers on the right return. Stone gatepiers with pyramidal caps stand at the far right, with original wrought-iron gates.

A polygonal plan timber summerhouse in the garden contains some Art Nouveau stained glass.

The interior features an oak-panelled hall with a brick chimneypiece and carved timber mantel. Small exposed ceiling beams run beneath a simple grape and foliate plaster cornice. A 2-tiered screen of turned balusters and round-arch arcade forms part of the panelled well stair, which has a coomb ceiling decorated with acorn pattern plasterwork. The drawing room contains a classically detailed chimneypiece, delicate plasterwork ceiling, and original door and window furniture. The parlour has a carved oak chimneypiece. Original light fittings survive in the hall, parlour, and some bedrooms.

The house was built for James Fearns and was divided during the 1940s.