Kingask House, Kingask

Kingask House, Kingask

Kingask House is a 2-storey, 3-bay small Neo-Jacobean mansion house, possibly designed by George Rae around 1850. It is accompanied by a lower office wing, a stable block converted to dwelling, and associated boundary structures.

The main house is constructed of painted ashlar with painted margins and narrow ashlar bands, featuring stugged quoins, a deep base course, and continuous hoodmoulds with a blocking course. Hoodmoulds incorporate label stops. The stonework has chamfered arrises, with stone transoms and mullions throughout. The roofing comprises grey slates, and the chimneys are diamond-aligned grouped ashlar stacks with a variety of panelling and coping. Triangular-coped ashlar skews with some moulded skewputts are present, along with cast-iron downpipes and decorative rainwater hoppers.

The principal south-west elevation features a centre bay with a porch containing a tiled floor and decorative fretwork with stepped blocking course. The porch is set deep with a timber door fitted with a 2-leaf fanlight, and a window at first-floor level above. To the right of centre is a bay with windows at each floor and a slightly advanced finialled gabled projection. To the left, a bay contains a modern ground-floor window, a first-floor window, and a recessed blind panel in the gablehead. A slightly set-back lower gabled bay, unpainted, is positioned to the outer left with windows to each floor, leading to a high link wall beyond.

The south-east elevation presents a slightly recessed centre bay with a tall transomed 4-light stair window featuring a cross detail at the head and hexagonal astragals. An advanced finialled gable to the right of centre has a projecting bipartite window at each floor. Further to the left, a bay contains windows at both storeys; the first-floor window is treated with a hoodmould and label stops, and the gablehead features a corbelled stack with a moulded recessed panel.

The north-east elevation is asymmetrical, with windows grouped to the right. Windows are positioned at the centre and right bays at each floor, with a smaller window between them at ground level. A dominant shouldered wallhead stack occupies the left side. A slightly set-back lower bay at the outer right contains a ground-floor window and a small first-floor window.

The north-west elevation shows only roof detail above the link wall. A projecting wing displays a lower piend and platform roof with a small 3-light flat-roofed dormer window at the centre. The set-back roof behind features two dominant shouldered wallhead stacks flanking a small glazed rooflight or lantern.

Windows throughout employ 10- and 12-pane glazing patterns in timber sash and case designs, except for the modern window which uses plate glass glazing.

The ancillary building is a single-storey, L-plan former stable block, now converted to a dwelling. It is constructed of dressed, squared and snecked rubble with narrow ashlar bands.

The north-west elevation of the ancillary building features a door with a plate glass fanlight at the centre and a wide tripartite window to the right. An advanced gable to the left contains a basket-arched, voussoired cart arch, now converted to a window, with a pedimented dormer window breaking the eaves above to the right.

The north-east elevation displays three small irregularly disposed windows at ground level and a window, formerly a hayloft opening, at centre level breaking into a pedimented dormerhead. A window and doors in a link wall adjoin to the outer left.

The south-west elevation is gabled with a small window to the right of centre and a small corbelled gablehead stack.

A high link wall to the outer right is defined by two tall arrowslits and a shaped projection with a ball finial.

The ancillary building employs multi-pane glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows. Its chimneystack is coped ashlar with ashlar-coped skews and moulded skewputts.

Boundary walls are of low semicircular-coped rubble, with pyramidal-coped hexagonal ashlar gatepiers. High flat-coped rubble garden walls complete the setting.

The interior of the main house was not inspected in 1998.