Walled Garden With Hot-House, Eaglescairnie House

Eaglescairnie House is a substantial mansion with a complex construction history, likely evolving from an earlier layout. A house of L-plan form was originally built in the early 18th century, featuring a stairblock in the re-entrant angle, potentially on the site of a late 16th century dwelling (a pediment dated 1595 is incorporated into the stable block). A three-storey rectangular block was added to the south in the early 19th century, effectively doubling the size of the house, with alterations made to the earlier fabric at the same time. By the mid-19th century, a further three-storey bay was added to the east, and the main entrance was moved to the south, being given a classical porch. A service court was created in the northwest corner with the addition of irregular, piend-roofed outbuildings, likely dating to the same period. The entire house was reconstructed before 1939 following a fire around 1930.

The house is constructed of cream rubble sandstone, with harl pointing to the earlier work, and broad droving to the dressings. Grey ashlar dressings are used on the mid-19th century additions. The south block features an irregular elevation with an advanced, canted bay off-centre to the left, a bay to the left of that, and two bays to the right. A wide bay was added to the outer right. Principal floor windows are tall, and the ground and principal floors of the outer right bay have tripartite windows. A corniced ashlar porch, added in the mid-19th century, is centrally placed, with a keystoned, moulded door surround and two-leaf panelled doors. The side elevations each have two bays, with a two-storey corniced canted bay added to the east elevation.

The L-plan house retains some windows with relieving arches, suggesting their 18th-century origin, although many have been altered. Later additions include scrolled skewputts to the ashlar-coped skews, and the roof pitch has been lowered. End stacks are present. The stairblock features chamfered angles and a piend roof.

Rectangular service buildings were added to the north end of the north-south wing of the L-plan, and two interrelated blocks on falling ground were added to the northwest corner of the east-west wing, all with piend roofs.

The windows are sash and case, with a square and horizontal pattern of 12-pane and multi-pane glazing. The roof is covered in grey slates.

The interior suffered extensive damage from a fire around 1930, but retains features such as an elliptical, cantilevered stone staircase with a timber balustrade (dating to the 18th century) within the stairblock, and an ornate mid-18th century white marble chimneypiece in an east drawing room, originally from the Senate Room at Edinburgh University’s Old Quadrangle.

To the west of the house lies a large walled garden with rubble walls of varying heights, partly brick-lined and partly harl-pointed. A gateway on the east side has a brick segmental archway and stone overthrow, with a decorative wrought-iron gate. A decorative hot-house of rectangular plan, likely late 19th century, is located in the southeast quarter of the garden. A single-span rubble bridge of short span, probably 19th century, crosses a burn to the west of the house and near the service buildings. It has a round arch and semi-circular coping to the parapet.