Anton's Hill

Anton's Hill is a two-storey house designed by William Burn and completed in 1853, built in the Jacobean style for the Dickson family. It is an exceptionally well-preserved example of Burn's "cottage houses" from the 1830s, a type designed to be constructed in phases, beginning with the service wing and finishing with the principal rooms.

The main house is constructed of stugged and coursed cream sandstone with ashlar dressings, some of which are droved. A raised base course, architraved cill course, and moulded eaves course provide horizontal emphasis. Narrow strip quoins and lugged, chamfered margins with round-arched lintel details at first floor frame the openings, which are fitted with sandstone mullions and chamfered cills. Windows at first floor break the eaves line with pediments, and the roof features kneelered gables.

An extensive service wing extends to the north, proportionally lower than the main house.

The north-east (entrance) elevation presents three bays at ground level. The outer left bay projects as a full-height gabled entrance feature containing a two-leaf timber panelled door beneath a pilastered doorpiece surmounted by a curvilinear pediment with a coat-of-arms. A single window aligns at first floor, with a square niche centred in the gablehead. To the right, a recessed bay contains a tripartite window at ground with narrow sidelights and a single window at first floor. The next bay advances with a tripartite window at ground and two single windows at first floor. The adjoining service wing to the right has a lower profile, featuring a bipartite window at ground in its outer left bay with a single window above; an advanced central bay with bipartite window at ground and a gable window; and single windows at both floors in the outer right bay. A low coped wall with corniced square-plan piers and square caps adjoins the house to the south-east.

The south-east (garden) elevation has three bays at ground level. A full-height canted bay offset right of centre displays central tripartite windows at both floors with narrow sidelights, and a blind armorial panel in the gablehead above. Single windows occupy the recessed outer right bay at both levels. A canted window with narrow sidelights sits offset left of centre at ground, with two single windows above at first floor.

The south-west (rear) elevation contains four bays in the main house with an adjoining service wing. A gabled bay at the outer right features advanced tripartite windows at both floors with narrow sidelights and a square niche in the gablehead. Single windows at both floors appear in the left bay; tripartite windows offset left of centre at both levels; and narrow single windows at both floors in a pyramidal-capped square-plan tower slightly advanced at the outer left. The lower two-storey service wing advanced to the left has a bipartite window at ground in the right bay and a single window above, whilst the left bay contains a depressed-arched sandstone seat recessed in a projecting external chimney breast. Further ancillary structures include a single-storey service block to the outer left with an oculus in the gablehead and a columnar verandah to its side.

The north-west (side) elevation is occupied by the lower service wing with single-storey ancillary structures forming service courts.

Windows throughout employ timber sash and case construction with 4-, 5-, 10-, 12- and 15-pane glazing. The roof is finished in grey slate with stone coped skews and moulded skewputts. Stacks feature panelled and corniced apexes, ridges and wallheads with circular cans. Iron rainwater goods are in place.

The interior contains marble and timber fireplaces, decorative plaster cornices and friezes, and some timber dado panelling. Doors are timber panelled with architraved surrounds and timber panelled shutters. The main stair is a dog-leg configuration with stone treads, decorative iron balusters, and a timber handrail. A smaller service stair with stone treads, iron balusters, and timber handrail also survives. Original service bells and meat hooks remain in place.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book recorded Anton's Hill as "a large, neat and commodious mansion built in the Elizabethan style of architecture". It represents a notably complete example of Burn's methodology, standing alongside comparable houses such as Monkrigg (1834), Bryce's Bourhouse and Tyneholme (1835), Ninewells and Finnart (1839). The design allowed staged construction, with the service wing completed first, followed by the principal rooms facing the garden. Despite seventeen years of construction, the house follows the original designs with fair precision. The name derives from an old well inscribed "Fons sacr. san. Anton. ac sanitat"; St Antony's Well is situated to the west. The gatepiers flanking the entrance and the nearby East Lodge are listed separately, as are the quadrant walls and piers to the north-west. Associated structures including the walled garden, gardener's cottage, former steading, and North gate lodge are now in separate ownership. The house was renovated in 1998.