Glaisnock House, Holmhead

Glaisnock House, at Holmhead, is a two-story Tudor revival house with a basement and attic, dating to approximately 1830, with substantial extensions to the south in the later 19th century. Constructed of rubble sandstone, the house features moulded chamfered arrises, hoodmoulds, stone mullions, and transoms, along with a partial base course.

The east, or principal, elevation is eight bays wide (four bays by four bays), the original block being four bays in width. The outer right bay is advanced and appears to resemble a border keep, with a slightly projecting gabled panel containing a transomed five-light window on the ground floor, a pair of bipartites above, and an arrowslit in the gablehead breaking the parapet. A gabled porch is situated in the bay to the right of the centre, in the re-entrant angle, featuring a pointed-arch doorway with a panel above, obscured by a hoodmould, with ball finials and a bipartite window in a gabled dormerhead projecting through the eaves. The bay to the left of the centre has a transomed tripartite window on the ground floor and a further gabled window on the first floor, also breaking the eaves. The outer left bay is slightly advanced and gabled with bipartite windows on each floor.

A later four-bay addition, taller than the original block and projecting forward, is situated to the right. A broad gabled bay features bipartites flanking a tripartite basement window, a transomed five-light window on the ground floor, a pair of bipartites on the first floor, and a tripartite window in the gablehead. Flanking bays have bipartites to the basement, a transomed tripartite window on the ground floor (a bipartite to the outer left), bipartites on the first floor, and breaking eaves in gabled dormerheads to the attic.

The north side elevation features a slightly advanced gabled bay to the left with a canted, transomed five-light window on the ground floor, a bipartite window above. A further gabled bay to the outer right has a transomed tripartite window on the ground floor and a bipartite window above. Regular fenestration characterizes the intermediary bays, with additional gabled dormerheads.

The west, or rear, elevation incorporates a two-story later addition projecting to the centre, a three-story and basement addition to the right, and a two-story rear porch in the re-entrant angle. The porch has a four-centre-arched door at the head of steps and bipartite windows on the return to the right. Above the door are transomed and cusped three-light windows, continuing as five-light windows on the return to the right. The gable of the earlier house is to the left of the centre, with a round towerhead rising up behind the central addition and topped with a shallow conical cap. A further gabled bay is located to the outer left, with bipartite windows and a later projecting boiler stack.

The house has timber sash and case windows with plate glass glazing. Most of the original tall polygonal stacks have been stopped off, though some remain, with banded coping on corbelled brackets. The roof is covered with grey slates. The interior was not inspected in 1997.

Outbuildings are situated to the rear of the house and extend to the side, being single-story in height.

Terrace walls and steps are constructed with pierced ashlar parapets, chamfered arrises, heavy coping, and squat dies. Various flights of steps link the terraces, with a grand flight to the northeast of the house leading down from the rear, featuring a solid ashlar balustrade and stepped landings. A coped boundary wall encloses the rear of the property.