Garbhein House, Garbhein Road, Kinlochleven

Garbhein House, Kinlochleven

Garbhein House is a two-storey detached house with attic storey, designed by A A H Scott in 1909. The building is rectangular in plan with four bays and single-storey extensions to the south and west. It exemplifies the Arts and Crafts movement with its asymmetrical design, tall chimney stacks, deep projecting eaves, and gabled principal elevation. The wall ends of the gable project as strip pilasters, and a broad round-arched recess punctuates the right side.

The exterior is harled, except for the upper storey and outer right bay to the rear and south elevation, which are constructed of coursed Kentallen rubble with red stone dressings. A continuous tiled cill band of horizontally laid tiles runs across the ground floor windows, with tiled cills to the first floor windows.

The north entrance elevation features a two-leaf panelled timber door with a three-pane rectangular fanlight, positioned to the right of centre and divided by a strip pilaster from the bay to the left. The flanking outer bays have gabled ends with prominent wall-end strip pilasters. The outer left bay contains a canted three-light window with timber mullions to the ground floor and a wide segmental-headed three-light window with timber mullions and keystone to the first floor. The outer right bay presents stone steps leading up to a full-width round-arched opening with brick voussoirs and keystone, beyond which sits a segmental-headed entrance with a two-leaf multi-pane glazed patio door set back into the coursed rubble wall. A pair of boxed two-light dormer windows with timber mullions occupies the centre of the attic. A single-storey extension projects to the left, with a three-light window to the right and a small window with raised sill to the left. A later boarded timber shed with a valley roof on a concrete base stands set back further to the left.

The south elevation includes a single-storey extension to the centre, which terminates in a conservatory with a lean-to roof, glazed with a wooden frame on a rendered plinth. A gabled entrance with finial to the centre contains a panelled timber door with glazed upper panels. Behind this stands the entrance to the rendered extension, which has a panelled timber door with a glazed upper section and multi-pane rectangular fanlight, flanked by narrow multi-pane lights. Single narrow windows serve both returns of the rendered extension. The main block has three irregularly disposed windows to the centre of the first floor, with flanking projecting wallhead stacks. A single first-floor window appears to the outer right bay. The ground floor has a window with a tiled keystone to the outer right end, a narrow window to the outer left (now with a boarded timber lower section, formerly longer), and a double window to a small projecting section to the left of the re-entrant extension. A small central two-light dormer window with a catslide roof serves the attic. Angle quoins are divided by bands of tiles on either edge of the main block (where not rendered). A single-storey extension on a rubble plinth stands set back to the right, with a single window. A boarded timber shed with a valley roof is set further back to the far right.

The west elevation features a five-light piended roof bay window with timber mullions to the right, a round-arched window with keystone to the left, and three irregularly-spaced windows to the first floor.

The east elevation has a boarded timber shed projecting forward from a single-storey extension. A small window serves the extension set back to the right, with a single first-floor window set back further to the right of the main body of the house.

Windows throughout are predominantly multi-pane timber-framed, mostly twelve-pane sash and case. The main block is roofed with piended grey Ballachulish slate, while the single-storey extensions have flat asphalted roofs with leaded flashings. A pair of tall projecting coped wallhead stacks breaks the eaves to the rear and south elevation; the right stack is harled, while the left is shouldered with a harled upper section and rubble lower section featuring a central harled stripe. A harled coped shouldered dormer-like stack rises to the west, a harled stack to the north pitch, and a harled coped stack to the centre of the east extension. Cast-iron rainwater goods complete the external detailing, with mainly round red cans where in existence.

The interior layout and fittings remain largely intact. A small vestibule beyond the main entrance opens into a large hallway with a beamed ceiling and quarter-turn staircase. The staircase features a solid timber balustrade with tapering Art Nouveau-style newel posts; those to the first floor project downwards beneath the floor. A three-leaf door beneath an Art Nouveau-style timber arch opens into the living room. The living room and dining room feature decorative plasterwork to the ceilings and cornices. The living room incorporates a circular floral band, while the dining room displays a Jacobethan-style band of fruit and foliage. Three-panel timber doors occur throughout. Original mantelpieces and fireplace surrounds survive in most rooms except the living room, comprising tall Art Nouveau-style mantelpieces with flanking pilasters. One bedroom fireplace has an exposed surround of green tiles.