Gordon Castle

Gordon Castle is a mansion house built between 1769 and 1783 by John Baxter, which was repaired after a fire. It was later remodeled in its current form by Schomberg Scott from 1961 to 1965. The building features a substantial castellated Georgian style and is a symmetrical two-storey structure made of tooled ashlar with polished ashlar dressings.

The north entrance front has a principal seven-bay elevation, with a lower two-storey, six-bay range extending to the east. There is a symmetrical return on the west gable and an extensive south garden front that includes a conservatory or orangery at the southeast. The main entrance on the north front is slightly advanced in the three central bays, featuring a pedimented and keystoned doorpiece with monograms on the lintel dated 1965. The windows have moulded architraves, and the lower east block has round-headed windows.

The west front also has a pedimented and keystoned entrance in the center of its symmetrical seven-bay layout, with the three central bays again slightly advanced. The extensive south garden front displays varied but regular fenestration similar to that on the north elevation. The windows are sash and case, mainly with 12-pane glazing. The building has a corbelled and crenellated wallhead, coped stacks, and a shallow piended slate roof.

Inside, the entrance lobby leads to an octagonal central hall, from which a curved staircase rises to a circular first-floor landing that is top-lit and features a reused 18th-century white marble chimneypiece. Additional reused marble chimneypieces are found in the first-floor drawing room and the ground-floor library or study. The interior includes 1827 Simpsonesque key-pattern doorpieces, moulded ceiling cornices, and panelled doors and window reveals.

The conservatory or orangery, likely designed by Archibald Simpson around 1830, is constructed of tooled ashlar and features a tall fenestrated nine-bay front with similar windows in the return gables, all with lying-pane glazing and a shallow piended glazed roof.

The gate piers, probably built between 1769 and 1782 and possibly re-sited, consist of a pair of tall square ashlar gatepiers that flank the drive to the north entrance of the mansion. These piers have moulded caps that support carved stone eagles.