East Steading Range, Symbister House, Symbister, Whalsay

East Steading Range, Symbister House

This is a former classical laird's house of 1823, located at Symbister on Whalsay, with later additions and alterations. The property comprises several distinct components arranged around a hillside setting.

The principal house is a 2-storey building with an attic storey over a basement, arranged in a 3 by 3-bay block facing west. It is constructed of stugged granite ashlar with dressed granite details, some polished. The exterior features band courses at the principal and first floors, a string course at the impost level of the principal floor, and a cornice with parapet at the eaves. Windows have projecting cills throughout.

The west (principal) elevation is symmetrical with a slightly advanced centre bay. The basement level is largely obscured by steps leading to the entrance portico, which comprises coupled Roman Doric cast-iron columns supporting an entablature with a raised blocking course at the centre. The entrance arch is round-headed with modern glazed infill. Above the portico sits a square window at first-floor level, and a blind tripartite window in the parapet, corniced and raised at centre. The basement outer bays have infilled windows, while the principal floor displays round-arched recesses with modern glazed infill. The first floor has regular fenestration. The south elevation is symmetrical with doors in each basement bay (vertically-boarded to the right, infilled at centre) and matching regular fenestration above. The east (rear) elevation is largely obscured by a modern gymnasium addition, though it retains first-floor fenestration with a central advanced bay. The north elevation is also symmetrical with basement doors, infilled in the centre and right bays, and a vertically-boarded timber door in the left bay.

The house has post-war glazing throughout and a modern mansard platform roof. The interior was not examined at the time of survey in 1996. A granite retaining wall surmounted by modern steel railing bounds the area to the south.

The west steading forms a symmetrical U-plan building enclosing a courtyard to the east. The 7-bay west range is centred by a 3-stage dovecote with a double forestair to the west side giving access to a vertically-boarded timber door at the second stage. The dovecote features pebble rustication with quatrefoil decoration at the upper stage. A low access door to the lower stage is positioned on the east side, with a door above the band course at the second stage. Below the eaves course runs a flight ledge with seven flight-holes. The second stage of the north and south sides contain blind cruciform windows. The dovecote has a felted pyramidal roof. The roofless L-plan ranges flanking the courtyard have 3-bay jambs with slit ventilators between stable doors in each bay, though the doors are now missing. The east side of the courtyard is enclosed by a granite rubble wall with bases and cavetto-capped gatepiers at centre, pedestrian gates to left and right (with a fine wrought-iron gate stanchion surviving). A 2-tier 3-bay entrance gate adjoins the northwest corner, featuring a central pedestrian gateway with blind flanking openings and a corniced upper tier containing a large carved armorial panel dated 1750.

The east steading is near-symmetrical with a modern raised wallhead to the south range. A round-headed over-arch contains a blind window centring a symmetrical west gable with a pedimented gablehead and cruciform pattern at centre. A tripartite entrance gate with blind side openings and stepped and corniced wallhead adjoins to the left, connecting with the corner of the west steading, with a single large urn surviving to the wallhead at right.

The 17-bay west elevation of the east range (grouped 1-6-5-6-1) features 4-centred arch-heads to carriage arches in the 5-bay centrepiece, some now altered. A tower-like dormer breaks the eaves at the centre bay with a loading door at first-floor level and a stepped and corniced wallhead surmounted by an openwork belfry with a finialled cap. The flanking bays have alternating doors and small square windows, some altered, with 4-centred arch-heads to pend arches in the outer bays. The 9-bay symmetrical east elevation (grouped 1-3-1-3-1) comprises five closely-spaced slit ventilators at the centre with windows in three regularly-spaced bays to each side (those to the left now infilled), and 4-centred arch-heads to pend arches in the outer bays.

The north and south elevations of the north range have irregular fenestration. Both display round-headed over-arches containing modern glazed windows, pedimented gableheads with modern windows inserted over former cruciform patterns at centre, and tripartite entrance gates with blind side openings and stepped and corniced wallheads. Large urns survive to the wallhead.

The east steading is roofed in grey slate and corrugated iron, with coped ashlar ridge stacks with circular cans to the north and east ranges, and a small urn finial to the west gable of the north range.

Boundary walls and gatepiers of random rubble stone form a roughly heart-shaped enclosure of the hillside to the north, west, and south of the house. Coped square stugged granite entrance gatepiers are aligned to the north of the house, with dressed stonework to corners and former gateways at the west extremity of the policies. Paired pedestrian and vehicular gateways adjoining the northeast corner of the east steading comprise square stugged granite shafts with stepped caps and obelisk-like pyramidal finials. A random rubble wall extends north from the west gable of the east steading, enclosing a former walled garden.

The 20th-century classroom blocks flank the principal house to north and south. A modern gymnasium block is centred to the rear of the house on the site of the former west courtyard.