Letterfourie House

The property is a large house, dated 1773 and designed by Robert Adam. It consists of a tall, central three-storey cube connected to mirrored two-storey wings by three-bay linking blocks. The main house is situated on a raised basement, which is fully visible as a lower ground floor on the south garden front.

The central block is constructed from pink, tooled and pinned granite, while the rest of the house is built of harl pointed rubble with contrasting tooled and polished sandstone dressings.

The north front presents a shallow U-plan courtyard formed by the wings set at right angles. The central entrance is emphasised by a shallow portico supported by two Corinthian columns and a small flight of steps that oversail the raised basement. The first floor features three console corniced windows with balustraded aprons, above which are smaller windows on the upper storey. Each wing has a single ground floor tripartite window. The linking blocks are set back and feature a three-bay design with an advanced and pedimented central bay, one containing a doorway. Spearhead railings with urn finials to the stiffeners screen the raised basement.

The south garden front has a five-window centre block with a central entrance to the basement and small flanking windows. A blind window is positioned centrally on the upper storey, bearing a dated keystone. The eastern and western wings project forward with a two-storey, single bay wing topped with a piended roof; the western wing provides access to a former chapel located on the lower ground floor. The chapel's windows are round-headed with intersecting astragals, and the fanlights have decorative glazing. Most windows are fitted with 9 and 12 panes of glass. The building features coped end, wallhead, and ridge stacks, with a single leaded dummy ridge stack at the east for symmetrical balance. The central cube has a blocking course and a piended slate roof with a central ridge weathervane. Gabled slate roofs are found elsewhere.

Inside, a cantilevered staircase rises from the entrance hall. The ground floor includes a parlour and a dining room. The dining room features a white marble chimneypiece with a steel basket grate by James Fraser of Banff, a plaster ceiling and cornice, a dado rail, mahogany raised and fielded panelled doors and window shutters and double doors leading to the parlour. The first-floor drawing room is accessed from a spacious landing and includes a yellow and white marble chimneypiece with a signed steel basket grate by James Fraser of Banff, a mahogany dado rail, raised and fielded panelled doors and window shutters, a decorative painted (green and white) plaster ceiling, and richly coloured hand-painted wallpaper depicting birds and flowers. A library contains modern shelving and a reused marble chimneypiece. The chapel features a groined plaster vaulted chancel flanked by engaged pilasters, but no original fittings survive.

A shaped water garden, containing two fountains of the earlier to mid-19th century, is situated in front of the south elevation. Both fountains stand on square plinths with wide bowls featuring scalloped lips, supported by shaped baluster stems; the fountain furthest from the house has a shaped central stem with diminishing basins.