Leithen Lodge

Leithen Lodge is a substantial country shooting lodge in Scottish Arts and Crafts and 17th-century manner, largely created through expansion and remodelling of an existing early 19th-century grieve's house. The transformation was undertaken in phases: George Matheson expanded the building post-1850, and Arthur Sydney Mitchell undertook the major enlargement and remodelling between 1885 and 1887. A classical archway dated 1684, moved from Dunbar, has been incorporated into the scheme since circa 1990.

The building is constructed in red sandstone rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressings and yellow painted harl. Base courses to canted windows feature jettied principal floors with cill courses and roll-moulded arrises. Remaining windows have chamfered arrises. The structure now forms a rambling 2-storey with attic country house.

The principal south elevation features two advanced outer gables, each with a 2-storey canted window and small gablehead window above. The recessed centre bays contain a single-storey entrance porch in a re-entrant angle to the left, with a window to the south and door on the right return. To the right lies an exposed rubble stair tower in a re-entrant angle, with narrow windows, corbelled parapet and pedimented attic dormerhead breaking into a conical roof. A loggia is formed at the centre by a first-floor conservatory spanned between the outer bays. This conservatory has a border-glazed base course, small-pane lights and raised ridge ventilating panes crowned by ornate iron brattishing. Beneath the conservatory sits an open pedimented timber archway on paired Jacobean columns, with irregular ground floor windows behind. Two segmental-pedimented dormer-headed windows and a lop-sided gabled stone wallhead dormer occupy the rear section.

The east elevation opens onto a courtyard, closed to the right by screen walls and the Lochend Arch. A return elevation features an advanced 3-storey chimney-headed gable off-centre left, with a small ground floor window, paired windows to the principal floor, and a gablehead with blank square ashlar panel beneath a segmental pediment. Flanking bays to the outer left contain an oculus at ground level and a window at first floor. Further bays to the right include first-floor windows and a small window above a lean-to coal bunker projection. A harled wallhead dormer with curvilinear head appears below.

The west elevation contains two irregular gabled bays at the centre: the left is recessed with tall stair windows; the right features 2-storey canted windows to the left and a small ground floor window with gablehead window. Above a stone projection in a re-entrant angle to the right sits a balcony with decorative timber balustrade and lean-to tiled roof, with door and window behind (previously with a forestair, removed during restoration circa 1990). A small window to the right and first-floor window to the outer right sit near a substantial shouldered wallhead stack. Two outer left bays contain irregular windows and a stone wallhead dormer with segmental-pedimented dormerhead. The original lower 2-storey, 3-bay slate-roofed grieve's house remains recessed to the outer left, with a projecting central bay containing a central window, corbelled half-timbered first floor with bipartite window, and mismatched windows to the outer bays.

The courtyard elevation displays the principal range with a lopsided gable to the outer left and irregular windows including two pedimented dormers breaking the eaves. A link block adjoins the original house in a re-entrant angle, featuring a first-floor orielled rectangular window to the left and an oculus to the right. An ashlar birdcage bellcote with ogival cap sits at the gablehead. The piend-roofed grieve's house to the right has a gabled, harled porch projection.

An L-plan range of stables and hayloft closes the courtyard at the north-east corner. The north-south arm is dominated by a leaded ventilator with ogival cap and weathervane finial. A large later window in the south gable with oculus above, stable windows to the east with gabled hayloft dormer, and a further window to the outer right complete this elevation. A catslide lean-to occupies a re-entrant angle to the courtyard. A gig-house/carport is formed between projecting gables to the north with a glazed canopy.

The Lochend Arch, dated 1684, is constructed of cream sandstone ashlar in a classical manner after Serlio. It comprises a keystoned semi-circular arch flanked by small niches masked by pedestalled Doric columns supporting an advanced pediment with full entablature and dated cartouche in the tympanum. Bold foliate carving decorates the spandrels and fluted pedestalled pilasters flank the structure. Low harled screen walls, constructed circa 1992, abut and close the courtyard.

Small-paned glazing is predominantly in sash and case windows, with some casements to smaller and lesser windows and some fixed panes. Red tiled roofs cover most of the building, except the original structure which has swept eaves and grey slates. Red sandstone crowsteps and margined wallhead stacks with moulded coping finish the exterior. Swept roof bipartite and single windowed dormers feature throughout.

The interior is a sumptuous example of Arts and Crafts and Scottish 17th-century design, almost entirely created by Sydney Mitchell between 1885 and 1887. Several Dutch timber classical chimneypieces, distinctive panelled doors, panelled ingoes, and arches to window openings and corridors with panelled soffits characterise the scheme. The entrance hall features wainscot panelling with moulded frieze and a 17th-century carved baluster crowned pier bearing a landing balcony above with arcaded barley sugar balustrade. A carved canopied red sandstone ashlar chimneypiece with black marble Ionic columns supporting consoles dominates the space. The stairwell contains an ornate timber barley sugar balustrade, Jacobean finialled newel posts and panelled walls.

The Billiard Room has panelled dado and an ingleneuk in a segmentally arched recess with marble chimneypiece flanked by small windows. An arcaded plasterwork frieze and barrel-vaulted roof with plasterwork ornaments crown the room. A canted window recess provides additional character. Alastair MacLeod mural paintings of mythological and esoteric subjects, dating to circa 1990, enhance the scheme. The Drawing Room features built-in cupboards, some with glazed panels, and a canopied recess at the centre. Decorative encaustic tiles line the conservatory, which also contains decorative cast-iron staging.

Associated structures include a small single-storey Power House to the north-east of the main house, with crowsteps in matching materials, a door to the south gable, and two windows breaking the eaves to the east with swept dormerheads. Remains of sawmill machinery lie nearby. A mid-19th-century stone rubble bridge to the south of the house crosses the Leithen Water with two arches, small cutwater buttresses to the centre pier, voussoirs and a course of vertical masonry below the upper coping. The bridge apparently houses pipes carrying water to Leithen Lodge from a reservoir to the south.

A late 17th or early 18th-century lectern-shaped sundial on a later ashlar shaft stands to the south of the house, featuring a 2-copper gnomon and irregularly shaped cup-dials to its sides.