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Summary

Description

Circa 1844. Asymmetrical 2- and 3- storey, 4-bay Scots Baronial villa; refurbished late 20th century. Harl; yellow sandstone ashlar dressings. Architraved string course; corbelled angle-turrets; chamfered surrounds to openings; projecting cills; oriel windows to S; gabled dormers breaking eaves to E and S. Red rubble sandstone garden arch to SE.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: curved timber panelled door set in NE re-entrant angle of engaged, full-height central turret; architraved hoodmould surmounting blind armorial shield; single window in bay to left; narrow (stair) window at 1st stage. Bipartite window at ground in bay to outer right; gabled window breaking eaves above; small single window a 1st floor in bay to left. Slightly advanced, gabled bay to outer left comprising 3-light canted window at ground; surmounting balustraded parapet; single window at 1st floor; ashlar-bracketed balcony beneath 2nd floor window centred in apex; gun-loop openings in flanking corbelled angle-turrets.

S (SIDE) ELEVATION: 5-bay. Bipartite window at ground in bay to outer right; blind armorial shield aligned at 1st floor; flanking corbelled oriels; gabled dormer centred above; small gabled dormer in bay to left; corbelled angle-turrets to outer left and right. Slightly advanced gabled bay at centre comprising 3-light canted window at ground; surmounting balustraded parapet; single window centred in apex above; flanking corbelled angle-turrets. Recessed 2-bay wing to outer left; single windows at both floors off-set to right of centre; single window centred at ground.

W (REAR) ELEVATION: 5-bay former service wing. Single storey with attic gabled 3-bay projecting wing off-set to right of centre; single window recessed at 1st floor. Single window recessed at ground in central bay; bipartite window in bay to outer left; single window at 1st floor off-set to left of centre.

Predominantly replacement 2-pane timber sash and case glazing. Grey slate roof; fish-scale detailing to conical turrets; raised stone skews; replacement rainwater goods. Corniced wallhead and apex stacks; octagonal cans.

INTERIOR: stencilled, panelled vestibule ceiling; panelled drawing room with contemporary decorative scheme; egg-and-dart frieze detailing; timber panelling; timber skirting boards; panelled ceilings; cast-iron balustraded stair; timber handrail; stone treads.

ARCH: rustic rubble arch to SE.

BOUNDARY WALL: coped harl-pointed wall enclosing site to E; part-demolished, rendered wall flanking vehicular entrance.

Statement of Special Interest

An interesting and relatively intact example of the Victorian Scots Baronial style, said to have been commissioned in 1844 by a Rev. William Monteith, who moved to Bute during the Disruption. In 1856, the house was bought by a Mr Robertson Buchanan Stewart, who then passed it on to his son - Alexander Bannatyne Stewart, Convenor of Bute and a prominent figure in the Glasgow Merchant City. With the funds to back his interest in architecture, Bannatyne Stewart carried out various alterations to the house as well as commissioning a kidney-shaped fernery in the grounds some time between 1867 and 1879 (see separate list entry). The landscaped gardens, the nearby stables (now virtually derelict) and an impressive baronial entrance to the NE of the house were also commissioned by him. This entrance is thought to date from the 1870s (see separate list entry Ascog, Entrance Gate, The Railway Convalescent Home). At one time the main entrance to Bannatyne?s house (see Ordnance Survey map, 1897), the gate was sold to the adjacent Blair Lodge circa 1929 when Ascog Hall hit financial hardship. Edward La Trobe Bateman (1816-1897), an artist and landscape designer who spent the majority of his life in Australia, returned to Britain and settled on the Isle of Bute in 1869 where, despite partial immobilisation after an accident, he planned to continue his landscaping and decorative stencil-work. He was to die in The Hermitage - formerly Kerrycroy School and headmaster?s house (see separate list entry). Having furnished and decorated a drawing room at Mount Stuart (subsequently destroyed by fire in 1877), Bateman went on to landscape the grounds at Ascog House (see separate list entry) and here at Ascog Hall. It is assumed that he designed the fernery within the grounds as well as executing some of the decorative stencil-work within the house. Necessary repairs (re-roofing, re-plumbing, re-wiring, re-glazing and re-flooring) have been carried out sympathetically, leaving a house which retains significant architectural interest. Note the corbelled angle-turrets, fish-scale slating, oriel windows, gabled dormers and curved timber panelled entrance. Interior refurbishment remains to be completed but here too, interesting features remain, including the stencilled and panelled vestibule ceiling and intricate friezes.

References

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