Dalnair House

Dalnair House is a large Scottish Baronial mansion designed by James Bell of Glasgow in 1884. It was refurbished following a fire in 1917 and received later additions in the late 20th century. The main block stands two storeys with attic accommodation and displays an asymmetrical plan dominated by a prominent four-storey tower at the south-east corner. Single-storey and attic service wings extend to the west.

The architectural character is unmistakably Scottish Baronial, featuring mullioned and transomed windows, bartizans (small overhanging turrets) on the tower, and a prominent entrance piece with a Tudor-arched doorway on the principal south elevation. The original sections are built of coursed stugged sandstone with sandstone ashlar dressings, while the 20th-century additions use brick and harling (a wet-dash render). The main block has a base course, with a moulded string course to the upper sections where the masonry corbels out slightly above, largely at frieze level. This corbelling steps around some windows on the principal elevation and tower on this side but is absent from the east elevation of the tower. A moulded eaves cornice and moulded coping run throughout. Gables have bracketed shoulders, with the main ones largely featuring flat raised heads. Openings on the principal and east elevations of the main block have roll-moulded surrounds, while chamfered reveals appear elsewhere.

The south (principal) elevation presents a five-bay main block, including the tower at the outer right. A projecting entrance piece occupies the central bay. Its lower half steps out parallel to the main wall, with upper courses corbelling out slightly as a frieze above a moulded string course. It is topped by a piended (hipped) ashlar roof with crocketed gablets decorated with trefoils at the upper arrises. A corbelled-out balcony with a pierced ashlar parapet sits centrally, its front panels framed by attached piers with ball finials. A short flight of steps, swept in plan, leads up to the doorway, flanked by rectangular-plan piers with circular carvings at the head at the foot of the parapet. The moulded lower string course of the entrance piece is incorporated as an architrave, with a raised panel containing a shield with a lion rampant centred above the Tudor-arched doorway. The spandrels are carved with flowers and thistles, and the outer reveal features a splayed triple roll-moulding. The door itself is a two-leaf panelled timber design. Flanking the entrance piece are mullioned and transomed four-light windows.

At first-floor level, the central three bays display regular fenestration. The left bay is gabled to the floor above, with a circular panel containing a trefoil at the apex and gableted skewputts (decorative stones at the base of gables). The central bay features a breaking-eaves attic dormer with a shaped gable topped by a shield, beneath which a panel carved with the date '1884' appears to the right. The right bay contains a mullioned two-light window with pointed lights at the base of the tower, with spandrels carved with foliage and thistle. A shallow canopy above is surmounted by a large ornate strapwork panel.

The outer right half of the outer right bay is set partially at an angle to the lower three floors. A blind hood-moulded arrowslit appears at ground floor on the left side. Above this, an elongated octagonal bartizan corbels out, with a cat-like grotesque in high relief to the right of the corbelling. Blind hood-moulded arrowslits appear on the outer face of the two upper stages of the bartizan (the lower one with carved heads as label-stops) and one on the right face where the bartizan rises above the tower parapet. The bartizan has a slightly projecting parapet. The upper storey of the tower corbels out to the right of the bartizan (over the angled half bay), containing a small Tudor-arched window with carved spandrels and a moulded hood-mould. A stone projection (probably an imitation rainspout) sits above on the parapet. The slightly projecting parapet of the tower is raised at an angle to the left of the octagonal bartizan, with a pierced trefoil at the base accompanied by a high-relief grotesque adjoining to the right. A circular bartizan stands at the left arris of the tower, with circular panels at cardinal points on its main body and shield and circle motifs above at the base of the parapet.

The outer left bay of the main block is recessed. The left arris of the second bay corbels out slightly at first floor over a slightly rounded ground floor, with windows to the upper two floors on the return. The upper window is a breaking-eaves dormer with a shaped gable topped by a shield. At ground floor, a mullioned and transomed canted ten-light window with a crenellated parapet is set back, with a mullioned and transomed six-light window above. The outer left arris of the main block is chamfered at first-floor level, containing a small window with a cusped ogee arch, carved spandrels, and a hood-mould with flower label-stops. The masonry corbels out above this feature.

A single-storey service wing adjoins to the left, with a breaking-eaves gable to the left of centre topped by an arrowslit. At ground level, it features a mullioned three-light window with a segmental-headed central light raised above the transom, a window to the left, and two windows set back slightly to the right, including a mullioned two-light window at the outer right. A single-storey and attic service wing to the rear extends slightly further west, where it adjoins a later or late 20th-century two-storey three-bay harled addition. A three-storey eight-bay brick further addition adjoins at the outer left.

The east elevation has six bays in the main block. The four-bay tower section to the left comprises a three-bay projecting section and a single bay set back to the right. The projecting section is canted to the lower two floors, with mullioned and transomed four-light windows to each bay at ground floor and mullioned two-light windows to the central and left bays at first floor. The second floor is canted only to the left side (with windows to this and the central bay). The rounded arris to the right bay contains a blind hood-moulded arrowslit and another on the right return, corbelling out with grotesques in high relief flanking the corbelling. The third floor corbels out at the left bay (containing a small Tudor-arched window with carved spandrels and a moulded hood-mould) with a high-relief grotesque to the right of the corbelling. A window appears in the central bay. The left bay has a breaking-eaves gable with a circular panel containing a pierced trefoil. A circular-plan bartizan with a crenellated parapet stands at the arris of the right bay, with small niches with cusped heads at the outer cardinal points. A balustraded parapet runs along the eaves, including on the right return.

A slightly taller section of the tower with a crenellated parapet is set back in the bay to the right, with a window to each floor (partially obscured by a later fire escape). The ground-floor window is a transomed two-light design with a pointed head. The right return of this taller tower section is visible above the roof, showing a window to the centre and one to the right. The central window is hood-moulded with a corbelled-out breaking-eaves gabled canopy topped by a truncated trefoil panel. A circular-plan bartizan stands at the right arris.

The two-bay section of the main block adjoining to the right has a window to each floor in each bay. The left bay at ground floor features a mullioned and transomed six-light window, while the right has a transomed two-light window. A mullioned two-light window appears to the left at first floor. Finialled breaking-eaves gabled dormers with carved shields set within panels at their heads occupy the attic level.

The north elevation shows a six-bay section of the main block to the left. A slightly projecting gabled bay appears to the left of centre, with a blind arrowslit at the head of the gable. A double flight of steps with a balustraded parapet leads up to a slightly recessed entrance to the right. The masonry corbels out above the string course to either side and above the low pointed-arched lintel, where it is bracketed, with a moulded architrave. A two-leaf panelled timber door is set back, with a small transomed window to the left. Above sits a large nine-light mullioned and transomed stair window, with the cill of the bottom left light at a lower level and the central top light extended upwards with a pointed-arched head.

A gabled projecting bay appears at the outer left, with a canted window projection to the lower two floors corbelling out to a rectangular plan containing a hood-moulded segmental-headed window at attic level. A bay set back to the right has a window to each floor, including a mullioned three-light window at ground floor with the head of the central light raised above the transom, and a breaking-eaves dormer to the attic with a segmental gable with a flat raised head and carved panel.

Three irregularly fenestrated bays appear to the right of the main block. The central bay contains an entrance (probably formerly a window, now with a late 20th-century glazed door), with a window above to each floor, including a mullioned two-light window at first floor. The left bay at ground floor has a mullioned two-light window with a window above. Ground and first-floor windows at slightly lower levels appear in the right bay (the upper one segmental-headed).

A single-storey and attic six-bay service wing adjoins to the right, including a three-bay projecting section at the outer right. The left section has a window at the centre of the ground floor, windows to each floor in the flanking bays, and one of a pair to the right at ground floor (a mullioned two-light window to the left). Gabled breaking-eaves mullioned two-light windows with roll-moulded finials occupy the attic. The three-bay projecting section to the right has ground-floor windows to the left and central bays, with breaking-eaves dormers to each bay at attic level: a mullioned two-light window with a nepus gable (a gable at the base of a slope) in the central bay, and flanking flat-headed windows (the right one now in use as an entrance with a later fire escape in front). A small window appears at ground floor on the left return. A later or late 20th-century two-storey three-bay harled addition is set back to the right, with a three-storey eight-bay brick further addition adjoining at the outer right.

The west elevation shows the double gable end of the single-storey and attic service wing to the left, with an entrance to the right of that to the right, two windows to the left (one modified from a larger opening), and a mullioned two-light window to the attic. A narrower lower-height gable projects to the left, containing a large entrance incorporating a modified door at ground floor. A later or late 20th-century three-storey brick addition projects to the right.

The original block has mainly two-pane timber sash-and-case windows. The roofs are covered in grey slate. Chimneys feature moulded coping, friezes, and chamfered upper arrises, including a pair of gablehead stacks at the west end of the main block, a ridge stack to the south side and two to the north, two wallhead stacks to the tower, a gablehead and ridge stack to the north side of the single-storey and attic service wing, a corbelled wallhead and nepus stack to the north side, and round chimney cans.

Inside, the principal entrance opens into a panelled vestibule with a mosaic floor. The large entrance hall contains a wide dog-leg staircase with an ornate timber balustrade and intricately carved newel post at the base, alongside a leaded stair window. A rounded recess opposite contains a carved stone fireplace surround with flanking foliate capitals and a panelled dado with attached fixed bench seating. The drawing room ceiling has an ornate floral plaster cornice and panelled border, while the room features a heavily carved Jacobethan timber fireplace surround. The upper 'hall' includes a curved timber bracket across the ceiling and a raised platform or gallery at one end (the timber fireplace surround and dado appear to be post-1917).