Dalvey House

Dalvey House is a classical mansion, dating to circa 1810, with a substantial addition of 1897. The house is situated on a south-facing site, originally five bays with the central three bays beneath an open pediment, and with two-bay return elevations. An extension was added in 1897, continuous with the west return gable and of a similar height, featuring a symmetrical five-bay west front, forming an overall L-plan mansion.

The construction is of tooled ashlar, with tooled and polished ashlar dressings. The south front has a central entrance reached by a perron which overhangs a raised basement. The entrance is defined by a corniced doorpiece with paired Roman Doric columns supporting an entablature decorated with bucrania and swagged urns. Above the door is a radial fanlight and a panelled door. The central first floor window is a keystoned Venetian window with engaged reeded Ionic pilaster jambs and a scroll blocked cill. Moulded architraves frame the flanking windows in bays two and four, with plain margins to the other fenestration. The outer bays are delineated by giant pilasters, and three swagged urns surmount the pediment, linked at the wallhead to the end dies by a balustrade. The windows are 12-pane, with end wallhead stacks and a piended platform slate roof.

The 1897 west wing features a symmetrical five-bay façade with a pedimented front, the central bay slightly advanced and with angle pilasters. A six-light window is placed within a recessed basement area and a raised ground floor. There is a keystoned attic window with a dated segmental pediment and 2-pane glazing. Corniced stacks and a piended platform slate roof complete the west wing. A substantial two-storey porch is located at the north end, with a glazed first floor and a piended roof.

The interior of the original portion of the house reflects its early 1810s date, with a raised ground floor leading to a central entrance hall and a drawing room to the right and a dining room to the left. The drawing room features a swagged frieze, decorative corniced overdoors, beaded panelled doors, window shutters and dados, and a carved white painted chimneypiece with a circa 1900 overmantel and coloured marble slips to a modern grate. The dining room has beaded panelled doors, dados and window shutters, a buffet recess flanked by reeded Corinthian pilasters, a swagged cornice with urns and bucrania, and a carved chimneypiece with dark marble slips incorporating an original basket grate. The stair hall and staircase were completely remodelled in 1897, though the cornice was retained. The sitting-dining room in the 1897 wing, originally a nursery suite, includes a decorative plaster cornice, panelled doors and window shutters, a deep bay window, and a high dado in the sitting area linked to the chimneypiece.