Blebo House

Blebo House is a mid-18th century classical house with later baronial additions designed by James Findlay in 1903. The original house was rectangular, two stories high with a basement, and featured a large, semi-circular bowed projection to the south. It is constructed of droved coursed rubble with projecting ashlar margins.

The south front’s basement was formerly in a sunk area but was raised to become a full storey in 1903. The ground floor features side bays with key-blocked Venetian windows, while the first floor has single windows. The bow contains three windows on each floor. The roof, reconstructed in 1903, is swept and piended, with an overhanging eave finished with Westmoreland slates. A large, canted and piended dormer extends from the roof of the bow onto a balustraded platform, and segmental roofed dormers are situated over the side bays. Two tall rectangular stacks with battered copes were added in 1903.

The east elevation shows two bays of the original house; the first floor windows have blind, semi-circular headed tympana. A further bay, added in 1903, incorporates a Venetian window with a blind head. The new work is constructed from stugged ashlar. A large drum tower is present at the northeast angle. This three-story tower features an entrance at ground level, sheltered by a segmental hood and accessed by a balustraded balcony supported on bold, sculpted brackets. The first floor has a pedimented door leading to the balcony, with windows to the left and right. The second floor features three low tripartite windows set between a cill band and a projecting, corbelled cornice. A flat-roofed balustraded top is reached by a circular stair tower, which also has a balustraded top and corbels out from the first floor at the angle with the east front.

The north front has irregular fenestration, including a large, stepped, mullioned and transomed window to the stairwell. There is a single-storey attic and a basement service window to the north. A small walled and terraced garden adjoins the west side, entered through an arch in the balustraded north wall. A small, single-storey tool store with a bell-cast pyramidal roof is located in the northwest corner. A small, timber, octagonal summer house with a bell-cast slated roof is situated at the southwest corner.

The interior includes a drawing room with Louis Seize/Adam plasterwork. The parlour retains a late 18th-century wood and gesso mantelpiece, possibly from the earlier house. The dining room has a tall, panelled wooden dado, a fireplace with Arts and Crafts detailing, and an open beamed and boarded ceiling, all dating from 1903. A billiard room, also from 1903, is located in the basement directly below the drawing room.

The house is shown in Nicoll's Domestic Architecture in Scotland, Plate 20.