Stables, Belhaven Hill School, Dunbar

Stables, Belhaven Hill School, Dunbar

This is a mid-18th century country house that was considerably altered and extended in 1899-1900 by the architects Dick Peddie and Washington Browne. The main building is two storeys with basement and attic, comprising a rectangular main block with neo-Georgian wings. It is constructed of red sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, a raised base course, rusticated quoins to the wings, an eaves cornice, and a slate roof.

The symmetrical south entrance front features five recessed bays flanking advanced gabled wings. These wings have 4-light canted windows extending from basement to first floor, with Venetian windows in their gable heads. The windows and door are finished with moulded architraves. The principal entrance is marked by an open pedimented Roman Doric doorpiece with panelled double doors and a decorative semi-circular fanlight featuring 12-pane glazing. A flight of steps with a short balustrade at the top leads to the entrance, and a balustraded basement area features eagle statues on end dies. Three 4-light timber dormers with pediments over their centre lights were added in 1899-1900.

The east and west side elevations each have three-light bowed bays to the ground floor and two dormers matching the front. The west side includes a further bow abutting an extension block to the north. The rear elevation shows a random window arrangement, with a mullioned, lead-paned stair window inserted in 1900. Slate-hung piended dormers and an extension to the west with a lower eaves line and piend roof are present. The western extension is partly harled. A later extension to the east is fully harled and comprises a two-storey and basement block with a corner turret, mansard attic, and slated roof.

The interior retains some 18th century work mixed with 1900 refurbishment. An original cantilevered oval stair features an unusual wrought-iron balustrade and timber hand rail. The vestibule contains decorative fanlights and curved double panelled doors. Fluted panelled shutters, decorative Adamesque plasterwork, and classical chimneypieces with marble slips are present in the main ground floor rooms.

The stables date to 1899-1900 with later alterations, also designed by Dick Peddie and Washington Browne. They form a single-storey and attic U-plan arrangement with walls enclosing a courtyard. Built of red sandstone rubble with a raised band course and window margins, they have slated roofs. The east-west block is raised with wave-topped dormers to the courtyard and features an arched carriage entrance to the left with windows to the right. The east block serves as a lodge adjacent to gates on Back Road, with a front elevation displaying 2-light and 3-light windows and an arched doorway with hoodmould, plus two 4-light timber dormers with semi-circular gable heads above their centres. The west block originally contained stable openings which have since been altered for habitation; a hay loft dormer occupies the north courtyard corner, and the south gable upper door has been blocked and altered to a window with the stair removed.

An 18th century walled garden with red sandstone rubble walls abuts Back Road. Its south wall features a Gibbsian open pedimented doorpiece on Doric columns with decorative wrought-iron work in the arch and upper door. Red sandstone rubble boundary walls to north and south are coped; the south features quadrant walls and square capped ashlar piers, while the north has circular rubble piers with quadrant walls.

A lodge dating to 1899-1900 was designed by Dick Peddie and Washington Browne and later extended to the east. The original L-plan has been made Z-plan by the extension. It is constructed of squared snecked sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, with harled new work. An entrance porch sits within the west re-entrant angle. The building features 12-pane glazing and a piended slate roof.