Beeslack House, Penicuik

Beeslack House, Penicuik

A 2- and 3-storey castellated Gothic mansion built between 1855 and 1857 by architect Jonathan Anderson Bell for Sir John Cowan of Valleyfield Mill. Bell had trained under Thomas Rickman, the renowned gothic revivalist, and was selected after designing a school at Valleyfield Mill for Cowan's father. The house features a 4-storey bell tower, an L-plan staff extension added around 1900 by James Tait, and later mid-20th-century additions including a glass corridor and single-storey ward block. The building is constructed in sandstone ashlar with a base course, stringcourses, parapets, and hoodmoulds throughout.

The principal (western) elevation displays a projecting 3-storey crenellated entrance tower with a gothic doorway reached by two steps, flanked by modern coach lights. An oriel window above features a replacement carved corbel and cusped traceried window surrounds of 4 lights with crenellated parapet. A single-light traceried window sits on the second floor. To the right rises a double-height chapel with a stained glass window featuring stone mullions, cusped surrounds, and four tall lights with a multifoil light at the centre. Adjacent is a 2-storey 2-bay section with a projecting castellated bay at ground floor level and a double-light traceried window above. Castellated chimneystacks crown each section.

The southern elevation is symmetrically composed as a 2-storey 3-bay arrangement with stringcourses and hood-moulded windows, except for a projecting castellated bay at ground floor right. The parapet is continuous. A later single-storey infill hides an earlier 2-storey elevation behind, with a bipartite window to ground floor right and an oriental carved stone inset to the right.

The eastern elevation comprises a 2-storey 6-bay later wing enclosing a courtyard, with a modern glass corridor adjoining at ground floor level, and a 2-storey single-bay section to the right featuring bipartite windows and hoodmoulds.

The northern elevation includes an early 1990s single-storey ward extension, a linking glass corridor to the original house, a 2-storey 3-bay section with a projecting central bay of 4 lights, bipartite flanking windows, and a tower within the re-entrant angle. To the right stands a 3-storey 2-bay parapeted section.

The tower rises as a 3-storey single-bay element with a setback 4th stage, castellated throughout. It features a hood-moulded arched doorway at ground level, with single-light traceried windows to each return and back. An inscribed bell, mounted on a large metal bracket to the left of the tower, bears the inscription "FECIT JOHN COWAN. ESQ BEESLACK HOUSE ALEX McGILL PENICUIK 1863".

Throughout the building, 12-pane narrow timber sash-and-case windows predominate, mostly painted green with bronze sashes in principal rooms. The roof is piended slate with parapet, lead flashings, and replacement metal ridge tiles, served by cast-iron guttering.

The interior retains several original features of note. Doors from the original scheme survive, accompanied by bracketed ceilings with vine cornicing. The main stairwell displays heavy carved newel posts and carved traceried timber balusters. The chapel contains an arcaded timber carved gallery, a bracketed ceiling on corbelled shafts with ornate bosses, and Puginesque Minton floor tiles. A dogleg servants' staircase features a plain wooden handrail and shaped iron balusters. The former nursery is decorated with murals by Julius Muller depicting "The Life of Joseph and his Brethren". A stained-glass window by Bell survives from the former chapel.

The house held historical significance as a stop for William Ewart Gladstone during his 1890 election campaign. The building now operates as Aaron House Nursing and Residential Care Home.