Harvieston House, Gorebridge

Harvieston House, Gorebridge, is a 17th century tower house that has been substantially altered and extended over subsequent centuries. The building is 2 storeys with an attic, arranged over six bays with an irregular plan typical of fortified domestic architecture of its period.

The exterior is harled with droved and polished ashlar dressings. A base course, broken in places, runs around the building with strip quoins at the angles. The roofline features crowstepped gables and a partial crenellated parapet. Grey slate roofs with lead ridges are finished with a combination of coped gablehead, wallhead and ridge stacks in octagonal and circular forms. Cast iron rainwater goods include some decorative hoppers.

The northwest elevation, which serves as the entrance front, is highly asymmetrical. An advanced porch was added in 1901 to the centre, featuring a Tudor arched doorway with decorative hoodmould and label stops, and a 2-leaf boarded timber door. Above the porch, the parapet steps up with a tooled panel reading "HARVIESTON". A boarded timber doorway appears to the right of the left return, with a single window and gabled bipartite window to the left of the left return. The right return has a single window and chamfered angles. The outer bays contain a canted angle window, a tripartite window advanced to the outer right, and a canted window to the first floor of the bay to outer right. A bowed window, dating to circa 1800, extends across ground and first floors of the outer left, with 3 windows to ground level and a tripartite window to the first floor. A boarded timber door with a large single pane fanlight and a single window above it occupy the penultimate bay to the left. The later 19th century centre bays display regular fenestration to the first floor. Four gabled dormer windows light the attic; the two central dormers have carved panels set in crowstepped gableheads, one reading "TC" (for George Trotter Cranstoun) and the other dated approximately 1869, when this addition was built by James Brown.

The southwest elevation is also asymmetrical across four bays. A single storey canted bay to the outer left bears a central panel with a bird design and a date of approximately 1901. An advanced porch with chamfered angles projects from the ground floor of the penultimate bay to the left. A blocking course with decorative corbel stone marks the right return. A blind arrowslit with an arrowslit window above it, flanked by a small window to the left, appears on the right return, along with a timber doorway with panelled door and letterbox fanlight below the arrowslit window. A bipartite window stands to the right of the porch, and a single window is positioned off centre to the left of the first floor with a window set into the gablehead above. Two angle turrets with arrowslit windows and conical roofs flank the gable. The penultimate bay to the right displays regular fenestration at ground and first floor levels. The bay to the right is advanced with a window at the centre of the ground floor; the roof sweeps down with 2 crowstepped gabled dormers to the first floor. A lean-to addition to the outer right is fitted with a boarded timber door and decorative fanlight flanked by a single window.

The southeast elevation is asymmetrical, featuring a gabled tower to the centre with a 20th century conservatory to the attic floor to the left and a gabled bay to the right. A tripartite window is advanced to the ground floor of the outer right, with another tripartite window set in the gable behind. A gabled bay to the outer left at ground floor is obscured by a lean-to addition, though a window is centred to the first floor. Various 20th century sheds obscure much of the ground floor.

The northeast elevation, spanning five bays, is asymmetrical. A single storey canted window appears at ground floor of the penultimate bay to the left, with a blank shield set in the crenellated parapet. A boarded timber door reached by timber steps occupies the right return. A bipartite window stands at the centre of the first floor, and a single storey blank bay marks the outer left. A single window lights the first floor of the centre bay, while regular fenestration appears at ground and first floor levels in the remaining bays. A boarded timber door to the basement is positioned at the penultimate bay to the right.

Windows throughout are predominantly two-pane timber sash and case type.

The interior was not seen during the 1997 survey.