Gladhouse Villa, Gladhouse

Gladhouse Villa is a baronial villa dating to around 1879. It is a two-storey building with a three-storey tower, and originally had three bays. The villa is constructed of bullfaced squared and snecked sandstone, with dressings that have been droved. Features include a base course, dividing string courses between the storeys, strip quoins, chamfered reveals, and crowstepped gables.

The south (entrance) elevation is asymmetrical. A three-storey entrance tower is recessed to the left, featuring an architraved doorway with an advanced consoled pedimented canopy topped with decorative finials. A recessed, panelled timber door is accessed via two stone steps, and a carved heraldic panel on the first floor bears the inscription “NISI COMINUS FRUSTRA?”. A window is present on the second floor, above the doorway, and the tower is finished with a crenellated parapet that projects outwards on two tiers of modillions. The central bay displays regular window placement. To the right, an advanced gabled bay incorporates a canted bay window extending through two storeys, with a blind panel in the gablehead and a carved stone finial at the apex.

The east elevation is also asymmetrical, comprising two storeys and two bays to the left, and a single-storey, three-bay wing to the right. A window is found in the right bay of the ground floor, with regular fenestration to the left and right bays of the first floor. The wing features an advanced, gabled bay with a bipartite window in the centre, a window in the flanking bay to the left, and an advanced gabled bay to the right that has a wide doorway offset to the left, with a three-leaf glazed boarded timber door. A boarded timber door is set into the gablehead; long and short quoins are used, and a carved stone finial sits at the apex.

The north elevation is asymmetrical, with a single-storey wing advanced to the ground, partially obscuring the rear of the villa. A boarded timber door with a letterbox fanlight sits on the outer right, flanked by a window to the left.

The west elevation is asymmetrical, showcasing a three-storey, single-bay entrance tower to the outer right, and a five-bay, single-storey wing to the left. The tower has regular fenestration on each storey, with a window to the left return on the second floor. The wing has a two-leaf boarded timber door in the penultimate bay to the right, a window to the bay on the right, and three gabled bays to the left. A boarded timber door with a letterbox fanlight is centred, with a boarded timber shutter in the flanking bay to the right, and a window in the flanking bay to the left.

The majority of the windows are timber sash and case windows with two panes and four panes. The roof is covered in grey slate with a lead ridge, and it features crowstepped skews with moulded skewputts. The chimneys are constructed of bullfaced stone, coped and shouldered, with circular cans; a ridge stack is present on the north wing; and a stack is located to the east of the entrance tower. Cast iron rainwater goods are also present.

The principal interior room, located on the first floor (formerly the board room for the Reservoir Committee), has a fine coomb ceiling with a deeply undercut cornice displaying a design of waterlilies and bulrushes.