Carnegie Music Institute, East Port, Dunfermline

Carnegie Music Institute, East Port, Dunfermline

This former large villa, now a music institute, dates from the later 19th century and has undergone several significant expansions. A billiard room extension was added to the west in 1891, followed by an eastern extension and some internal remodelling, including the addition of a former conservatory, in 1899 by Harbourne Maclennan of Dunfermline. A summer house pavilion was constructed to the east in 1900, also by Harbourne Maclennan, with further late 20th-century extensions to the east, including a linking section to the pavilion. The building is linked to the west by a passage to the adjacent Carnegie Hall. The structure is mainly two-storey and attic and two-storey, with an asymmetrical plan.

The original villa is of Gothic Revival design, featuring hood-moulded mullion windows, gabled dormers with Caernarvon-arched hoods, and a machicolated entrance tower. The main eastern extension is in the Jacobethan style, with pedimented and hood-moulded mullioned windows and obelisk finials to single stepped gables. The Edwardian Baroque summer house pavilion has scrolled pediments to its windows. The building is constructed of coursed stugged sandstone with polished sandstone ashlar dressings, with base courses and eaves courses to most parts. Windows in the original block have architraved surrounds with chamfered and stopped mullions. Gables throughout are coped, with those to the original villa featuring gableted blocks at the apex and above moulded skewputts.

North (entrance) elevation

A three-storey entrance tower projects from the centre of the original block, positioned to the right. Steps lead up to a splayed pointed segmental-arched architrave containing a roll-moulded pointed trifoliated opening with a panelled timber door and shaped fanlight. Above, a pair of moulded band courses frames a corbelled three-light oriel window at cill level, flanked by finialled gablets at the cill band. A three-light mullion window occupies the top floor, with a single window to the right return of the tower at ground and third floors. The tower is topped by a tall gabled copper (possibly) roof swept at the eaves.

To the left of the tower, a gabled bay is set back slightly. At ground floor level, it has a hood-moulded two-light window with a panel at the head, mirrored by a similar window above, and a small attic window. The bay to the right of the tower is set further back, with a hood-moulded two-light window with panel at the head at ground floor, and a dormer with a gabled Caernarvon-arched hood on flanking brackets, with a shield at the centre.

A single-storey ancillary range is set back slightly to the outer left of the original block, featuring two widely-spaced two-light dormers (coping not gableted), both with gabled Caernarvon-arched hoods on flanking brackets. A walled yard adjoins to the left, stepped up at the centre over a pointed segmental-arched carriage entrance. The late 19th-century extension is set back behind the wall and ancillary range, with two bays, each with a single-stepped gable surmounted by an ornamental hexagonal stack finial. The left bay has a large late 20th-century entrance with irregular fenestration. A narrow bay with a catslide roof belonging to the earlier block is set back to the right, with a dormer featuring a gabled Caernarvon-arched hood and shield at the centre. A late 20th-century single-storey brick wing adjoins to the left.

South elevation

The two-bay original block is to the left, with each bay featuring a large four-light canted bay window with a crenellated parapet. Above, a pair of windows is positioned in the slightly projecting gabled left bay. To the right, a pair of dormers, each with a gabled Caernarvon-arched hood on flanking brackets and a shield at the centre, completes the original block.

The 1899 extension is set back to the right, with two main bays, each with a single-stepped gable surmounted by an ornamental hexagonal stack finial and obelisk finials to the steps. At ground floor, each bay has a three-light mullioned and transomed window with a hood-mould with a pointed peak over a carved fleur-de-lys or rose respectively at the centre. Above, each bay has a pedimented window (pediments alternately triangular and semicircular) with a moulded architrave and bracketed cill. Both pediments are monogrammed and finialled with flanking scrolls at the base. Each gable has double ventilation panels.

The single-storey billiard room extension with a battlemented parapet to the roof is set back slightly to the left of the original block. A pointed segmental-arched entrance to an open vestibule features a hood-moulding with a monogrammed shield dated 1891 to the panel at the head, with an entrance featuring a part-glazed panelled timber door to the left return. To the left, an ashlar projecting bay has a six-light mullioned and transomed window and a crenellated parapet. A late 20th-century single-storey wing adjoins to the outer right, terminating at the summer house pavilion.

East elevation

The east elevation is largely obscured by late 20th-century single-storey wings. Two upper bays of the 1899 extension are set back to the left, each with a gabled dormer with a shield at the centre. The east side of the original block is set further back to the right, with a dormer window featuring a gabled hood over a roll-moulded Caernarvon-arch on flanking brackets and a shield at the centre. A pair of small windows is positioned to the left, with a boxed dormer above.

West elevation

The west elevation has a narrow recessed central bay with a dormer window featuring a gabled hood over a roll-moulded Caernarvon-arch on flanking brackets and a shield at the centre. Flanking projecting gabled bays are present, with the ground floor of the right bay (and central bay) obscured by later single-storey extensions. Each projecting bay has a hood-moulded window with a panel with a shield at the head to the first floor (the right one is blocked), and the ground floor of the left bay has an identical hood-mould to a two-light mullioned window. A small attic window is in the right gable, and a ventilation panel is in the left gable. A late 20th-century glazed lean-to passage projecting to the right of the left bay leads to a linking passage to Carnegie Hall.

Pavilion

The pavilion has a square plan with a pavilion roof swept at the eaves. It features a cill course and eaves band, with corner pilasters at the angles. The entrance, with a moulded architrave, is to the right of the west side, with a cartouche featuring star and moon motifs over the lintel, dated '1900' and monogrammed 'A D'. The door is partially glazed timber of Art Nouveau design. A late 20th-century single-storey stone wing adjoins to the left.

The south side has a three-light mullion window, the east a two-light mullion window, with a decorative cartouche over each light. The end elevation of a late 20th-century single-storey brick wing adjoins the north side.

Additional features

The building predominantly features two and four-light timber sash and case windows, with multi-pane upper sashes to the pavilion and billiard room. The roofs are covered in grey slate. The original block has four wide shouldered stacks with band courses and cornices, the two-storey extension has a mid-pitch stack with band course and cornice, and the east side has a corniced wallhead stack with a band course incorporating decorative rain spouts. Octagonal cans are present where existing. Some rainwater heads with thistle and rose motifs (possibly earlier 20th century) are on the original block, and a pair of original cast-iron downpipes with wide rainwater heads of Art Nouveau design is situated beneath specially constructed round-arched openings on the two-storey extension.

Interior

The interior retains a number of high-quality internal fittings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The entrance hall and vestibule area (formerly leading to the conservatory) feature timber panelling, divided by a railed timber screen. Plaster cherub brackets are positioned below pointed segmental arches at the junctions of the entrance hall and vestibule. The vestibule has a fireplace with a timber surround monogrammed 'W R' (William Robertson). Leaded glass is present in the inner door opening into the entrance hall, and a leaded stained glass light is above the stairwell. The half-turn timber staircase has landings and timber barleysugar-twist balusters.

The interior of the billiard room (1891) is entirely timber panelled up to the frieze, including two recesses: one incorporating a sideboard and shelves, and one an inglenook with arcaded panelling, a Tudor-arched strapwork ceiling, fixed seating, fluted columns, and a brick fire surround with a pedimented timber mantelpiece. The wallpaper to the frieze incorporates an embossed thistle and rose motif. The heavily beamed timber ceiling has a large central light well.

The library has a veined marble chimneypiece and wallpaper frieze in Chinese style. The first-floor bathroom has contemporary fittings, including glazed tiles with embossed geometric designs incorporating a dado, dado band, and upper wall area. The enamelled bath has an incorporated shower cubicle, set in timber casing with brass fittings, and a blue and white porcelain toilet bowl with contemporary fittings.

Garden wall

The rectangular garden to the south is enclosed on three sides by coursed stugged sandstone rubble (with ridged coping) and brick wall, stepped down along sloping ground to the east and west. An entrance is to the west side. The north side of the garden comprises two terraces with sloping sides and two sets of steps.