Balloch Castle

Balloch Castle is a house dating to 1808-09, designed by Robert Lugar in a castellated Tudor-Gothic style. It is constructed of stugged squared sandstone with ashlar margins and dressings. The building features a string course, hoodmoulds, a battlemented parapet, a battered base course, and blind cruciform arrowslits.

The east (main) elevation is slightly concave and consists of five bays arranged nearly symmetrically. A lower service wing is set at an angle to the right. A porte cochere porch is centrally positioned, featuring a broad segmental arch framed by octagonal, dome-capped columns and a battlemented blocking course. A half-glazed door is set within. Above the porch is a tripartite window and a blank plaque. Decorative corner bartizans are present. A tall, battlemented round tower rises behind, alongside a machicolated octagonal tower. To the left is a bay with a segmental arched window at ground and first floor levels. An octagonal tower is situated further to the outer left. A blank bay is positioned to the right, with windows at ground and upper floor levels, and a narrow octagonal corner tower to the outer right. A lower three-bay angled wing extends to the right, featuring three Y-traceried sash and case windows at the upper floor. A broad door is located at ground floor level to the outer left, with a Y-traceried lancet window to the right. A round clock tower is situated to the outer right, with a machicolated parapet and ashlar bellcote. A two-bay battlemented return is incorporated. A parapetted screen wall encloses the castle yard, recessed to the outer right, with a three-centred arch coach door and a smaller pedestrian door to the left.

The west garden elevation presents a five-bay asymmetrical main block and a recessed five-bay service block to the outer left. An octagonal tower is advanced at the centre, with a machicolated battlemented parapet. Two doors are present on the outer facets, and a bipartite window is centrally located. Segmental-headed windows are positioned at the centre of the first floor, with blind arrowloops. A tripartite round-arched window is featured on the outer facets, alongside a blind arrowloop at the centre. A narrow bay is located to the right, leading to a square tower bay to the outer right, with a broad tripartite window at ground level, flanked by blind windows. Above the left ground floor window, a window is positioned at the first floor, and two windows are present at the upper floor within the tower bay. An angled two-bay block is placed to the outer left, featuring a battlemented turret with chamfered arrises to the outer left, with lancets on the ground and first floors, and a blind two-light lancet at the upper floor. A bipartite window is at ground level to the right, with a window above at the first floor. The recessed service wing is located to the left, with a battlemented tower bay to the outer left, a dome-capped bartizan to the outer left corner, a single lancet at the upper floor, and a blank bay to the right with a plaque at the upper level. Three bays are symmetrically disposed to the right, with windows at ground and upper floor levels.

The south side elevation features a broad tower bay to the outer left, with a tripartite window at ground level, a segmental window on the first floor, and a smaller window at the upper floor. A three-bay block extends to the right, with a tripartite round-arched window at ground level and three windows symmetrically disposed at the first floor, and an octagonal tower bay to the outer right.

The windows are predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case, with some pointed arch Y-traceried windows. Pedestalled chimney stacks, grouped in a diamond alignment, are present, topped with cornices.

The interior retains original and later 19th-century decorative schemes. A vestibule is present, featuring ribbed vaulting springing from clustered colonnettes, gothic door panelling, and a clustered columned surround. The drawing room showcases wooden ribbing culminating in a central wooden ceiling rosette, alongside decorative filigreed plasterwork cornices. Marble fireplaces are incorporated, and a plain cast-iron stair is also present.