Claremont, 102 Strathern Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Claremont is a substantial villa at 102 Strathern Road, Broughty Ferry, which began as a pre-1891 design by Robert Keith and Son. It was enlarged and remodelled in 1907 by Alexander Johnston and David Baxter, then further enlarged and embellished in 1921 by W B D Keith (really Vernon Constable). The building is a 2-storey structure with attic, following a basically rectangular plan and enriched with Beaux Arts detailing.

The exterior is constructed in coursed ashlar and snecked rubble with rusticated dressings, beneath a grey slate roof with piended form and moulded coped stacks with identical cans. A moulded eaves course runs below the roofline. Windows are mainly plate glass sash and case, with multi-pane examples at the east and west pavilions and south elevation.

The east elevation is asymmetrical, with two bays advanced at the centre. An open entrance portico at the right bay ground floor features paired Ionic columns at left and right with a further column adjoining at the right return. The door is furnished with a fanlight and pulvinated lintel band, with a bell-pull flanked by leaded windows with chamfered reveals. A window occupies the left bay, beneath a moulded cornice and deep band course at first floor with two further windows and a box dormer. A blank bay is recessed at the left, with a further recessed bay at the far left containing a single storey pavilion projecting from the re-entrant angle. This pavilion displays a blank round-headed arch with chamfered reveal cornice and parapet. A window and door at first floor feature bowed rusticated dressings within the re-entrant angle. A single storey, 2-bay billiard room projects at the outer right, with two slightly advanced windows, rusticated angle, cornice and parapet.

The south elevation is 5-bay and nearly symmetrical. At centre, a 2-storey, 4-light canted window rises toward a canted dormer with segmental window flanked by bull's-eye windows with decoratively moulded margins. Tripartite windows at the left, slightly advanced with moulded cornice at ground floor and corbelled and shouldered margins at first floor, are matched by bipartite windows at the right. Single storey pavilions project from re-entrant angles at far left and right, each consisting of French doors flanked by bowed angle windows, moulded lintel course, fanlight with chamfered reveal to voussoirs, and chamfering extending to bowed angles with moulded cornice and parapet above. Windows light recessed first floor bays behind.

The north elevation retains a modern garage and 1908 billiard room addition at ground floor left, with a modern door and former single storey service projections at right. A tripartite stair window is flanked by single windows, with three multi-light flat-roofed dormers and various stacks above.

The interior is of exceptional quality. The lobby features finely plastered walls rendered as ashlar with a double comb ceiling bearing decorative plasterwork. Principal rooms retain original marble chimneypieces and panelling with some decorative plasterwork. The inner hall displays fine mahogany panelling and a well stair, with an inlet point at the landing for a central vacuuming system. Unusual original sanitary fittings include a T-plan sunken bath with railings. The billiard room contains vertically-louvred secondary glazing and a large ceiling light, both with patterned leaded panes; similar glazing appears at the stair window and front entrance.

The setting includes a concrete and stone balustraded terrace wall at the south of the house, with bal-finialled dies and steps at east and west. Cast-iron lamp standards with moulded decoration punctuate the terrace. A rubble boundary wall with rounded coping and rusticated gatepiers stands at the north, with a similar wall at the south featuring two coped gatepiers forming a quadrant.