Loganbank House

Loganbank House

A picturesque mansion built around 1810 as a small thatched summer residence for Reverend John Inglis, Minister of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh (1799–1834), substantially extended and improved in the later 19th century. The property comprises a main house of 1½ storeys with a 2½-storey wing to the south-east and an office wing to the rear. It was purchased by the Inglis family in 1834 and underwent significant architectural additions circa 1860 under the celebrated architect David Bryce, best known for his work at Penicuik House, Rosslyn Chapel, and the design of Fettes College.

The house displays an irregular plan with snecked stugged rubble walls and an ashlar porch. The roof is slate with a piended configuration, grouped ashlar chimneys, and picturesque overhanging eaves.

The main west elevation is nearly symmetrical, featuring a central enclosed gabled porch with bargeboards and a decorative finial, containing a two-leaf part-glazed door. A lean-to with three-light stone-mullioned windows flanks the porch, topped by a glazed roof with attic dormers to either side. Two gables flank this lean-to: on the left, an open ground-floor lean-to with a high chimney stack; on the right, a three-light canted window with a window above and a newly created door with a small window above. Bryce's tower occupies the right section, comprising two storeys and an attic, with a three-light canted ground-floor window, a tripartite window above, and a small gable window. A wallhead gable rises to the left return with a projecting plain plaque and roof lights above. The right return shows regular fenestration.

The north elevation displays an M-gabled configuration with a three-light canted ground-floor window to the right. A later extension with an irregular gabled form adjoins to the outer left, with a chimney above. An irregular wing at the centre contains a lean-to extension and a projecting gabled bay with a dormer window. Two windows occupy the top right. Loganlea, a plainer two-storey structure with two bays positioned to the left, shows evidence of later extensions.

The east elevation remains concealed by trees and is not visible.

The front fenestration consists mostly of two-pane wooden sash and case windows, with twelve-pane examples to the rear (as found in Loganlea). Loganbank itself varies from two to eight-pane wooden sash and case windows. The roofing is irregular piened slate throughout, with plain bargeboards to most gables.

The interior of the main house features an entrance hall with heavy oak panelling and doors, likely of ecclesiastical origin. Early stained glass panels are dated 1412, 1621, 1662, and 1737. Rococo fireplaces with delft tiling and marble surrounds, ornate cornicing, and a vaulted ceiling to the main room are notable features. Further oak panelling appears on the landing, in the games room, and in bedrooms. Loganlea, the rear service wing, is plainer internally. Loganbank and Loganlea formerly contained an "Empire Room" with ornate painted wallpaper.

Bryce's addition was built to house a drawing room with a billiard room above. Six mid-18th-century stone finials remain in the garden: four pineapple finials and two urns, possibly from the Dryden estate near Bilston.

The property was originally part of an estate known as "East Kirklands." The Inglis family connection deepened when John Inglis (son of Reverend John Inglis) acquired Glencorse House in 1855. Harry Maxwell Inglis inherited Loganbank House in 1834 and left it to A. W. Inglis of Glencorse in 1883. Harry's brother John served as Lord President and authored a pamphlet on the parish advocating its proper name, Glencorse, over the corrupted form "Glencross."

The house was subdivided in the 1970s into three separate properties: Loganbank House (the original house), Loganbank (Bryce's tower), and Loganlea (the rear office wing).