Dochfour House

Dochfour House is a large house dating to circa 1740, originally a symmetrical, two-story, five-bay structure facing southeast. It underwent extensive alterations and additions in 1839 by William Robertson of Elgin, transforming the southeast and northeast portions into an asymmetrical Italianate mansion. A further extension was added in the late 19th century, matching the Italianate style. The house is primarily harled, but the southwest garden front features coursed rubble and polished ashlar, with polished and tooled ashlar dressings and margins.

The earlier section of the house on the southeast front has paired outer bays and elongated ground floor windows, likely lengthened during the 1839 renovations. It has two-window return gables, with evidence of blocked fenestration on the southwest side, dormers added in 1839, and a piended platform roof.

The 1839 additions extend to the rear of the original mansion and include a two-story, square Italianate tower at the northeast front, concealed by a porte-cochere. An armorial panel is visible on the first floor of the tower, and a pair of carved ashlar urns decorate the balustrade of the porte-cochere. A taller Italianate tower, centrally positioned on the rear of the garden front, features triple, round-headed narrow windows and a shallow pyramidal roof. Extensive ranges extend northward from the main entrance, displaying varied fenestration, including some windows set in shallow, round-headed recesses on the southwest garden front. The southwest garden front features three wide bays with a recessed ashlar centre bay and outer gabled bays; each bay contains three closely spaced windows. A balcony connects the outer bays, supported by a delicately carved ashlar balustrade with stylized foliage. Long, central windows, featuring blind boxes, open onto a terrace. A late 19th-century extension in the same style was added to the northwest.

The windows largely feature 12-pane or lying-pane glazing, with some margined glass on the garden front. The house has shallow piended slate roofs that extend over deep, blocked eaves.

The interior of the earlier section of the house preserves a circa 1740 plaster ceiling, a chimney piece, and panelling originally from the former drawing room. The original dining room has been re-decorated and fitted with a circa 1780 chimney piece. On the southwest front, the 1839 addition contains a library, drawing room, and dining room, all with marble chimney pieces, some incorporating coloured marble inlay, and plaster ceiling cornices.

Dochfour House was the home of the Baillie (later Burton) family. The late 19th-century wing at the northwest was built to commemorate a visit by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and houses a smoking room.