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Summary

Description

Edward Blore, 1824-1827. 2-storey and attic, irregular plan, asymmetrical, multi-gabled Tudor Revival country house raised on balustraded stone terrace with octagonal tower to SW, stone-mullioned windows, gabletted dormers and prominent, diagonally-set stacks. Squared, coursed, bull-faced masonry with ashlar dressings. Base course; discontinuous eaves cornice; gabletted parapets to canted windows. Predominantly bi- and tripartite windows; hoodmoulds with label stops; gablets breaking eaves to first floor windows. Finials to gables and gablets.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: principal entrance elevation of 4 blocks stepping down and back to right. Off-centre gabled porch with Jacobean scroll-work cartouche flanked by finials to canted lobby behind. NE elevation with central canted window at ground floor and gable between two pairs of stacks. SE (garden) elevation of 2 main blocks with recessed central section. Service court to SW with free-standing tower with pointed roof and gableted finials.

Predominantly 3- and 4- pane glazing in timber windows with opening top hopper. Saddle back skews with kneelered skewputts. Tall, clustered, diagonally-set corniced stacks with clay cans. Grey slates.

TERRACE: house raised on terrace with saddleback coped wall, decorative stone balusters and ball finialled piers; swept steps to front door.

INTERIOR: exceptional surviving Tudor Revival interior. Compartmented ceiling to main hallway with ribs, pendants and elaborate cornicing; decorative oak staircase with panelled dado. Wainscot and decorative ceilings to many rooms including hall, drawing room, chapel, library and dining room. Timber shutters and panelled doors throughout.

Statement of Special Interest

Corehouse is of major importance in terms of both Scottish and UK architectural history and an important visual focus in the parkland of the estate and around which much of the landscape was designed. The Corehouse estate is one of the main components of the Falls of Clyde designated Designed Landscape and contributes to the outstanding scenic qualities of this part of the Clyde.

Corehouse is arguably the first example of an attempt at the authentic re-creation of the Elizabethan Cotswold manor house style, in which Blore subsequently designed many of his numerous country house commissions. It influenced a number of other country houses in England during the following century. In particular it is said to have influenced William Burn in some of his country houses, for example, Teviothead in Roxburghshire, and also been a formative element of his cottage style. Features of Corehouse were reproduced by Burn in miniaturised form at Snaigow, Perthshire, 1826-27.

Edward Blore (1787-1879) was one of the foremost country house architects of the mid-19th century. He started his career as a topographical artist. In about 1811 Blore was introduced to Sir Walter Scott who was about to embark the process of rebuilding Abbotsford. Blore provided some sketches for Scott which pleased the latter as they were 'less Gothic and more in the old-fashioned Scotch stile' than those by William Atkinson who had already provided designs for Scott. Although Scott did adopt some of Blore's ideas for the house and these were executed circa 1822-24, the main work that Blore did for Scott was as manager of the latterùs publication Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque of Scotland, as well as providing all the drawings which appeared from 1819.

It was Scott who introduced Blore to George Cranstoun, later Lord Corehouse. The new house is positioned near Corra Castle and back from the Clyde, with a broad swaithe of trees sheltering the building on three sides. The commission at Corehouse was one of Blore's earliest designs and it was followed rapidly by another Scottish country house, Freeland, in Perthshire, and then a succession of others houses in England. By the 1830s Blore had gained a reputation as a trustworthy architect whose estimates could be relied upon for accuracy and as a result he was given the task of completing Buckingham Palace after John Nash's dismissal.

Although considered by Howard Colvin as less able than Pugin in using his thorough knowledge of 15 and 16th century domestic architecture and transforming it into new country houses, nevertheless Blore's popularity at the time is evident from the number of country houses he designed (Colvin lists 62).

Other elements of the Corehouse designed landscape are also listed including the Conservatory and Flower Garden Walls, the Dovecot, the Mausoleum , the Stable Court and the Stove House (see separate listings).

A sunken walk was designed in parkland to the south of the mansion house, resembling a ha-ha, and allowing visitors to visit Corra Castle and Corra Linn without being seen from the main house.

List description updated 2010.

References

Bibliography

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