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Summary

Description

Late 18th century, wings added circa 1840, N and W extensions early 20th century. 2-storey, 4-bay, gabled central section with small pediment, flanked by lower symmetrical piend-roofed wings. Roughly T shaped in plan. First floor cill course to N (rear) elevation. Regular fenestration to front and rear with raised ashlar margins; slightly advanced tripartite ground floor windows to S (front) elevation of wings; bipartite windows above; Venetian ground floor windows to rear. White-painted harl/render with sandstone ashlar dressings (some now painted).

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: timber-panelled front door in pilastered architrave to right-hand bay of central block; small pediment gable over central 2 bays with small blind occulus. 2-storey, piend-roofed wing extending from centre of rear elevation with canted bay window at ground to E. Later extensions adjoining W elevation.

Timber sash and case windows with mixture of 12-pane and plate glass glazing. Ashlar-coped skews. Wallhead and gablehead sandstone stacks with yellow cans. Welsh slate with metal flashings.

INTERIOR: Drawing room with four wooden Corinthian columns at west end, deep moulded cornice and central rose and doors with deeply moulded architraves. Hallway with flattened arch supported by double scrolled brackets. 6-panelled timber doors throughout.

Statement of Special Interest

This was the farmhouse of the Newton Don estate home farm. It may have been built after the marriage of Lady Harriet Cunningham to Alexander Don in 1778 (hence the name) but the precise date of internal alterations and symmetrical wings is hard to establish. It was clearly aggrandised for a particular purpose; it has been suggested that the drawing room was designed as a dining room and that the building was banqueting house for Newton Don. The house is now used as the Dower House for the Newton Don estate, and it has also been suggested that it was built or improved for this purpose for Lady Harriet. The symmetrical wings and elaborate main room are both unusual for a house of this relatively small size. They may have been added when the estate was sold by Sir Alexander Don to Charles Balfour of Balgonie in 1847. The house is a striking feature in the landscape.

References

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