Vogrie House

Vogrie House is a baronial mansion designed by Andrew Heiton Junior, built in 1876. It is a substantial building of three storeys with a basement and attic, ten bays wide, stepping down towards the north-east. The walls are built in stugged, coursed sandstone with polished chamfered dressings. Features common to all elevations include a base course, relieving arches over the ground floor windows, and pierced bargeboards to the gables with decorative ironwork finials.

NORTH-WEST (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION

The principal elevation is asymmetrical. The entrance is positioned near the centre, in the seventh bay from the left, within a polygonal tower. It is reached by a flight of steps and features a segmental arched doorway with a decorative roll moulding at ground level. Above the doorway is a hoodmould enclosing the Dewar coat of arms, with simple label stops. The door itself is a two-leaf, grained timber panelled door with a trefoil-headed four-pane fanlight. Windows flank the doorway and also appear on the left and right returns. The basement of the right return has bipartite windows, while the first floor of the right return has a bipartite window flanked by two single windows. At second floor level, the tower sweeps up to a circular drum with regular fenestration, topped by a conical slate roof with a central attic dormer. A single window with a slate roof sits at the base of the stack on the left return.

Moving across the elevation, the eighth bay from the left has a quadripartite window at ground floor and regular fenestration at basement level, with a bipartite window flanked by two single windows at first floor and a tripartite window set in a gable at second floor. An armorial shield appears at ground level in the penultimate bay on the right, with a single window at first floor and a shouldered window breaking the eaves with a catslide roof above a dividing band course at second floor. The outer right section has a tripartite window at ground floor, with the first floor corbelled out and regular fenestration continuing to the first and second floors.

To the left of centre, the sixth bay has a tripartite window at ground and basement levels, with a bipartite window above a dividing band course at first floor breaking the eaves with a catslide roof. The fifth bay has regular fenestration; the fourth bay has tripartite windows at ground and basement levels and a bipartite window above the dividing band course at first floor, again breaking the eaves with a catslide roof. The third bay, which is advanced, has regular fenestration. The single-storey penultimate bay on the left contains two symmetrically placed windows in its gable, and the outermost left bay has a single window.

SOUTH-WEST ELEVATION

This elevation is two storeys with an attic and four bays wide. A polygonal tower stands at the outer left. Three bipartite windows are symmetrically arranged at ground floor level, with a central bipartite window flanked by two single windows at first floor. At attic level, the tower sweeps to a circular drum with a central tripartite window set in a gablet breaking the eaves, topped by a conical roof covered in fishscale slates. A later 20th century conservatory, which replaced an early 20th century timber veranda, is advanced to the right. The first floor has regular fenestration and the attic floor has a tripartite window set in a gable, with a single window to the left breaking the eaves in a catslide roof.

SOUTH-EAST ELEVATION

This elevation is eight bays wide and asymmetrical. At the outer left, a quadripartite window appears at ground floor, with a tripartite window corbelled out at first floor and a tripartite window in a gable at second floor. The recessed penultimate bay on the left has a bipartite window at ground floor and a nine-pane bipartite window at basement level. Above the basement is an elongated tripartite window with a relieving arch, marking the stair position, with a tripartite window in a gable above. The third bay from the left has regular fenestration with a single window at basement level. The fourth bay has tripartite windows at both ground and first floor levels, with a boarded timber door with a letterbox fanlight to the left of the basement and a two-pane window to the right. The fifth bay has regular fenestration.

A tower stands in the re-entrant angle between the fifth and sixth bays, featuring a boarded timber door with a letterbox fanlight at basement level and a window at ground floor. Above, it is broached to a circular drum at first floor, with a single window breaking the eaves and a banded fishscale graded conical slate roof. The sixth bay from the left has a quadripartite window at ground floor and tripartite windows at basement and first floor levels. As on the north-west elevation, two symmetrically placed windows appear in the gable of the single-storey penultimate bay on the right, and the outermost right bay has a single window.

NORTH-EAST ELEVATION

This elevation has irregular fenestration with a gable positioned off-centre to the right. The ground floor is largely obscured by advanced outer bays that together form a courtyard. Two symmetrically placed windows appear in the gabled bay at the outer left, and a shouldered doorway with boarded timber doors with decorative ironwork hinges sits at the outer right, with a window centred in the gablehead above. A coped screen wall occupies the centre with a central gateway and cast iron gate leading to the courtyard. Within the courtyard itself: the south-east elevation has a central boarded timber door flanked by two windows; the north-east elevation has a glazed boarded timber door to the right and a window to the left; the north-west elevation has two boarded timber doors to the right and two windows to the left.

WINDOWS AND ROOFSCAPE

The windows are predominantly two-pane timber sash and case at ground floor level. The first floor has replacement 21-pane timber sash and case windows, and the second floor has replacement 15-pane timber sash and case windows. These upper-floor windows are in fact highly unusual: the upper sashes are single pane but give the impression of being six or nine pane because the astragals are fixed proud of the glass rather than being glazing bars in the conventional sense. As Colin McWilliam suggests, the probable reason for this arrangement was to keep the wall surface as consistent as possible and to avoid disruption when windows were opened. This technique was always used at Vogrie House, but originally the windows had only one fixed horizontal astragal, giving the appearance of conventional two-pane sash and case windows. It appears likely that the windows were altered to their present form in the early 20th century, giving the house a more 17th century character.

The roofs are covered in graded grey slate with lead ridges and cast iron rainwater goods, including some decorative hoppers. The chimney stacks have shouldered wallhead and gablehead copings with circular cans.

INTERIOR

The interior is in a plain gothic style. Ground floor rooms have decorative cornices; the remaining floors have plain cornices. The hall contains a timber panelled imperial stair with turned balusters and carved newels. The remainder of the house is served by timber dog-leg stairs — some of which were removed during alterations in 1997 — and cast iron straight stairs. Ground floor door and window cases are carved gothic timber; those on the remaining floors are simple panelled, with some replacements. Shutters survive on the ground and first floors. The ground floor has predominantly marble fireplaces; carved timber fireplaces appear on the floors above. The cafeteria, originally the dining room, retains corbels supporting the beams in the form of carved figureheads representing the four ages of Man.

HISTORY

The name Vogrie derives from the Gaelic "Bhog crioch", meaning marshy boundary land, and is first recorded in 1337. In the 15th century the lands formed part of the Barony of Crichton and passed through several hands before being acquired by James Dewar in 1719. The family responsible for what survives of Vogrie today is that of the Dewars. J. Thomson suggests they were of the Perth whisky-distilling Dewars, which would explain the appointment of Andrew Heiton — himself from Perth — as architect; however C. Gordon argues that they actually came from the parish of Heriot, where a place called Dewar was located, commemorated today by the Dewar Burn. In 1753 the Dewars also acquired the adjacent Stobbs estate, which proved rich in minerals including coal. The last of the Vogrie coal mines, which traded mainly with the Borders, ceased working in 1938.

James Dewar was responsible for laying out the country park in the early 19th century, including the stables (listed separately), but died before he could build a new house. It was his second son, Alexander Cumming Dewar — the first son having died childless without making any alterations to Vogrie — who built Vogrie House. Alexander's son, James Cumming Dewar, was the last Dewar landlord of the estate and died in 1908. In 1928 his wife disposed of the estate. The house and its grounds were purchased by the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Nervous Disorders, and Vogrie served as a private nursing home until 1963, when it passed to Midlothian Civil Defence and eventually to Midlothian County Council. It opened as a country park in 1980.