Elie House

Elie House is a large house dating from 1697, with substantial additions and alterations made in the 18th century and again in the mid-19th century. The core of the house was originally five bays wide and two bays deep, three stories high. It is built of rubble with roll-moulded window reveals.

In the late 18th century, the house was extended with an advanced bay featuring an Ionic Venetian window on the principal floor and sculpted drapery swags around the first-floor window. This extension formed an L-shaped plan, with a nine-bay front to the west. The central three bays are slightly projected and topped by a pediment displaying sculpted arms. A glazed door on the principal floor provides access to an elaborate balcony reached by a double flight of steps. These steps, built in 1855, replaced the original entrance steps. The west and south fronts are of broached ashlar, with polished moulded architraves to the windows and a moulded eaves course. The north front is now harled. The roof is piended and slated, with symmetrically arranged stacks.

Substantial alterations occurred between 1854 and 1855. The east front became the main entrance, with the demolition of much of the pre-1697 structure and the addition of a porch featuring a baroque pedimented door, channelled angle pilasters, and a balustraded parapet. A rectangular tower was added to the southwest re-entrance angle, topped by an octagonal lantern with a bell-cast slated roof and weathervane. The 17th-century wing was heightened with an attic storey, with pedimented baronial dormer heads. Original 18th-century attic windows were raised through the eaves and treated similarly. A small, single-story and attic service court was also added to the southeast.

Later additions include platformed attic dormers to the east and west fronts, a large enclosed firescape on the north front connected by a glazed corridor, and a modern chapel to the northeast.

The interior was partly remodelled in 1855, but significant features from 1697 remain, such as in the refectory. The southwest apartment on the principal floor retains original features dating to the 1770s, including a panelled dado, a marble chimney piece, and a fine Rococo plaster ceiling. The origins of the 18th-century work are complex. While William Adam is linked to designs and possibly a carved pediment dated circa 1740, Pococke's 1760 visit indicates the new house was not yet built. Later designs came from Sir James Clerk around 1770, but were also not realised. The 19th-century work was undertaken for J Baird and William Baird.