Fern Bank Villa, Claredon Place, Dunblane

Fern Bank Villa is an Italianate villa dating from 1876, situated on Clarendon Place, Dunblane. The house is rectangular in plan and two storeys high, with a prominent three-stage entrance tower at the centre. It is constructed of yellow sandstone ashlar, with squared and snecked sandstone to the sides and rear. A base course and a dividing band between the first and second storeys are visible. The windows have plain margins and projecting cills, with mutuled barge boarding to the overhanging eaves. Stone mullions are a key feature.

The east (principal) elevation features the three-stage entrance tower, with stone steps leading to a semicircular-arched entrance protected by a stopped hoodmould with a projecting keystone and a two-leaf, semicircular-arched, timber panelled door. A small, semicircular-arched window is above this, also with a stopped hoodmould. A dividing band runs above. The third stage of the tower is narrow, with tripartite windows and a continuous cill course. A low pyramidal roof tops the tower. To the left is a gabled bay and, to the right, an advanced canted bay to the ground floor with a coped parapet and decorative cast-iron balustrade; a tall, narrow tripartite mullioned window sits above. The rear (west) elevation has an advanced single-storey kitchen wing with a piended roof, as well as a ground-floor window and a semicircular-arched window above. The north side elevation showcases a two-bay arrangement with a ground-floor window to the left and a semicircular-arched window with a gable breaking the eaves above it. A tall, semicircular-arched stair window is to the right, with a small square pantry window to the ground floor. The south side elevation has a bipartite window to the left, a semicircular-arched window above, and a slightly advanced gabled bay to the right; this features a Venetian window to the ground floor and a tripartite window above, with a bracketed balcony and decorative cast-iron balustrade.

The villa has plate glass, timber-framed, sash and case windows, grey slate roofing with lead flashing, cast-iron rainwater goods, and coped wallhead stacks.

The interior is notable for its ornate plasterwork cornices, including a fern motif in the hall and drawing room. An etched glass panel with fern decoration adorns the inner lobby door. Fireplaces include a black marble fireplace in the present lounge and a white marble fireplace in the morning room. Timber panelled doors, shutters, and dados are found throughout. A hatch in a small first-floor study leads to the tower room.

Gate piers and a boundary wall are constructed of square-plan columns, moulded plinths, blind arrowslits, plain paterae, moulded cornices, ball finials, and coped rubble walls of yellow sandstone.