Rothes House

A former mill-owner's house in the gabled cottage style with overhanging eaves, timber barge-boards and diamond-plan chimney stacks. The house predominantly dates to 1845 (with the possible inclusion of some fabric from an earlier house on the site) and was enlarged and remodelled during the later 19th century. Located beside the River Leven near the west entrance to the once extensive Tullis Russell Paper Mills, the house is two-storey with attic and basement, constructed of narrow bands of dressed stone ashlar, with droved quoins, stone cills and mullions. It has an addition to the rear forming a T-plan. The windows have timber sash and case frames with a horizontal or 'lying-pane' glazing pattern. The roof has a covering of graded grey slates, relieved by aligned groups of tall, cavetto coped and shouldered, diamond-plan chimney stacks.

The south (entrance) elevation has a broad, advanced gabled bay to the right with a full height canted window, corniced at both floors and extending into the gable head. A part-glazed and panelled timber door with margined glass fanlight and a window in the bay to left of centre with dormer headed window above breaking eaves. A lean-to porch with cast iron columns, added in 1924, crosses the central bay and abuts the advanced gable to the right. The supporting cast iron columns are linked with delicate cast iron arcading.

The north elevation has an open basement level on falling ground sloping down to the river. The basement has a door at the centre, a window to the left and a small opening to right. The blank gable above is surmounted by four diamond stacks. The west and east elevations of the rear wing both have two dormer-headed windows breaking the eaves of the rear wing.

The interior (seen in 1996 and in photographs dated 2018 and 2021) has an inner hall with a parquet floor, a segmental headed passageway running under the stair; a curving stair with panelled walls, and a circular roof-light cupola with plain astragals. Decorative cast iron balusters and a timber handrail have been removed from the main stair prior to 2018. One ground floor room has a timber fireplace with fluted pilasters and swag decorations. Elsewhere, the interiors retain simple moulded fireplaces, plain cornicing, panelled timber shutters and window backs, elbow linings and soffits, and brass sash lifts.

A timber framed, glazed conservatory and hot house (adjoining the west gable of the house) has largely collapsed, with the base and north wall partly remaining (2023).

The boundary walls have been removed to accommodate access to and from the adjacent biomass energy plant (constructed 2013-15).

Statutory address, category of listing changed from B to C and listed building record revised in 2023. Previously listed as 'Tullis Russell Paper Mills, Rothes House with Conservatory and Boundary Walls'.