Leaston House

Leaston House is a circa 1700, two-storey, five-bay mansion with early 19th century wings added at right angles to earlier wings, creating an entrance court. The house is constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings, some areas are harled pink, and window arrises are chamfered.

The southeast elevation showcases the circa 1700 block with five symmetrical bays. The central bay features a breaking eaves design with an ogival gabled dormerhead, scrolled skewputts, a gablehead stack, and a window. A lugged and roll-moulded doorpiece with a swan-neck pediment that cradles a cartouche frames the two-leaf studded doors. Sash windows with a 12-pane glazing pattern are present in the flanking bays on both the ground and first floors. Early 19th century piend-roofed wings adjoin the original house at right angles, with blank returns on the courtyard side. A full-height, piend-roofed canted window is situated in the gable of the wing on the left, while the wing on the right features two windows per floor.

The northwest elevation displays a near-symmetrical arrangement, with a repeated ogival wallhead gable at the centre, beneath which is a stair window. There are two ground floor windows to the right and one to the left, with first floor windows flanking the centre. Lower, piend-roofed wings, flush with the earlier elevation, are likely older than the taller projecting wings on the southeast. A mid-19th century, two-storey, piend-roofed addition extends to the northeast, incorporating a service entrance. A lean-to addition is situated at ground level in a re-entrant angled by the later block on the northeast elevation.

The majority of windows are sash and case with a 12-pane glazing pattern. Grey slates cover the roof; the original house features ashlar coped skews with scrolled skewputts and coped end stacks, while decorative cans adorn the chimneys.

Rubble retaining walls with semicircular coping surround the property, supported by grey ashlar piers with moulded cornices and pyramidal caps. A decorative wrought-iron balustrade lines a winding stair. Former 18th century coach house and stables are located to the east, alongside a steading built in 1858, neither of which are included in the current listing. The grieve’s house is listed separately.

The name Leaston House derives from the original owners, the Liestons. The Menzies of Castle Menzies owned the estate from 1829 to 1845, when the SPCK took the house as an investment. It returned to private ownership in 1921.