Description
James Ogilvie, master mason, dated 1735. N facing 2-storey,
3-bay house. Harled rubble, ashlar dressings. Later
additions at E gable and S elevation.
Centre door in N front masked by later gabled wooden
porch. Moulded surround to doorway; also to all front
windows, which have been widened in ground and 1st
floor outer bays.
Symmetrical rear fenestration; small ground window each
side of centre door (blocked at W) and in centre 1st floor,
all narrow with plain chamfered jambs. Single ground floor
and long 1st floor window in W gable; 8- and 12-pane glazing.
Oval oculus in W gable to light loft with 'James Olgilvie'
carved above and 'Marjory Steuart' below.
Moulded corniced copes to end stacks, with narrow pulvinated stringcourse below cornice and small ledge at inner face,
with moulded underside. Shaped skewputts, that at NW
dated; flat skews continuously moulded on underside and
splayed at base to follow line of bellcast roof; graded
Banffshire slate roof with stone ridge.
Later single storey rubble extension at rear, masking
rear centre entrance; single storey, 3-bay cottage (now
gutted) at E gable; moulded architraves to centre door.
End stacks and corrugated iron roofs to both.
INTERIOR: small circular cantilevered staircase with moulded
underside, polished wood balustrade and slender wooden
balusters; original moulded chimneypieces in W ground and
1st floor rooms; simple moulded ceiling cornices; 'stake'
and hris' (wattle, clay and straw) party wall in loft.
Statement of Special Interest
James Ogilvie was a master mason and it can be assumed
that he was architect-builder of his own dwelling in which,
in minature, he includes details from the greater mansions
on which he worked. The moulding on the underside of the
staircase is similar to that at Gordonstoun House,
re-modelled 1730, on which he may well have worked. James
Ogilvie was 'Architect and Undertaker' for Speymouth church,
he and the minister having 'contrived' the plan between
them in 1732-3.
Unusual detailing to end stacks, the ledges probably
assisting the cleaning of the chimneys besides throwing
rainwater away from the ridge.
Upgraded B to A, 24.3.88