Keil School, Helenslee Road, Kirktonhill, Dumbarton

Keil School, located on Helenslee Road in Kirktonhill, Dumbarton, is a mansion house designed by architect John Honeyman between 1866 and 1867. The building incorporates an earlier two-storey house from the early to mid-19th century, originally designed by J.T. Rochead. The exterior features stugged ashlar coursers with polished dressings. The original house has a three-bay east elevation, which includes an entrance added by Honeyman, featuring a banded porch with Ionic columns, a recessed round-arched door, and flanking niches. The six-bay south elevation has later canted and balustraded windows in the outer bays on the ground floor, with windows in between that have bracketed hoods and a decorative cast-iron balcony on the first floor. Additional details include cill bands, channelled clasping angle pilaster strips, three centrally placed stacks linked by arches, and a piended and platform roof.

The addition to the building is designed in three distinctive parts. It includes a tall two-bay, three-storey and attic block that adjoins the earlier house, featuring pedimented dormers set into a balustrade over the second floor. This section has a pyramidal roof with brattishing and a crown. To the west, there is an advanced, lower three-storey block with canted windows on the ground and first floors, and a pilastered tripartite section above, deep eaves, and a piended roof. There is also a simple two-storey, two-bay western block.

Inside, the school boasts ornate plasterwork with high Victorian detail, particularly in the library, which is L-shaped and features a Corinthian-columned screen and an anthemion cornice. The halls have round-arched screens with Corinthian columns on the ground floor and domed ceilings on the first floor. The ground floor classrooms and masters' common room have ribbed ceilings. Most chimney-pieces are made of marble, and the elaborate cast-iron stair balusters display the Denny crest, along with a three-light stair window that features a simple curvilinear pattern.