Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

ABOYNE, RHU-NA-HAVEN ROAD, RHU-NA-HAVEN, AND GARDEN ORNAMENTS, INCLUDING STATUARY, URNS, PAVING, WALLS AND RUSTIC TIMBER ANCILLARY STRUCTURELB3126

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Group Category Details
100000020 - see notes
Date Added
24/11/1972
Supplementary Information Updated
30/03/2000
Local Authority
Aberdeenshire
Planning Authority
Aberdeenshire
Parish
Aboyne And Glen Tanar
NGR
NO 51415 97740
Coordinates
351415, 797740

Description

Sir Robert Lorimer, 1907, with 1911 wings:- Interior decoration by Lorimer, Louis Deuchars, Scott Morton & Co, Thomas Hadden and Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts. 2-storey, 7-bay, L-plan Arts and Crafts house. Tooled coursed granite with raised finely finished margins. Rounded reveals; eaves course; curvilinear gables; curvilinear gableted windows breaking eaves to attic floor.

SW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical; centre 3 bays advanced and canted with turret roof; glazed door to penultimate bay to right of ground floor, flanked by window to outer right, regular fenestration to 1st floor. Regular fenestration to ground and 1st floors of 1911 penultimate bay to left and bay to outer left.

SE ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 4-bay. Window to ground and 1st floors of penultimate bay to left; canted window to ground floor of gabled bay to outer left, window to 1st floor, blind vertical opening set in gablehead. M-gabled penultimate bay to right and bay to outer right advanced, bay to outer right added 1911, flat coped wall advanced between bays with flat-roofed porch flanked by timber lean-to addition and low granite enclosure to re-entrant angle to right, regular fenestration to ground and 1st floors, blind vertical opening set in each gablehead; window to ground and 1st floors of left return of penultimate bay to right; flat roofed single storey addition to outer right, window to ground floor with curved outer angle; ground floor of right return obscured by single storey addition with 2 windows, window to centre of 1st floor.

NE ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 7-bay. 3-storey, half-engaged tower to bay to centre, window to ground floor, decorative pedimented window to 2nd floor; architraved doorway with central tooled panel reading "1907" to ground floor of right return under loggia, linen folded 2-leaf timber door, decorative pedimented window to 1st floor; crowstepped gables. Round-arched 1911 loggia advanced to ground floor of 2 recessed flanking bays to right, 2 windows to 1st floor; advanced flue to centre of wall at bay to outer right. Penultimate bay to left and 3rd bay from left slightly advanced, large stair window to right, flanked below by 2-pane window, small 4-pane bipartite windows to ground and 1st floors of penultimate bay to left. Gabled bay to outer left advanced, window off-centre to left of ground floor, paired windows to 1st floor, blind vertical opening set in gablehead; irregular fenestration to ground floor of right return, window to centre of 1st floor, flanked to right by 2 small 4-pane windows.

NW ELEVATION: 1911. Asymmetrical; 2-bay; canted window to ground floor of bay to right, flanked to left by window, window to each bay of 1st floor.

Predominantly 4-pane and 6-pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof, piended in places, with lead ridge. Coped stone skews with decorative scrolled skewputts. Predominantly coped granite ridges stacks with circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: high quality interiors with skirting boards, cornices, light switches, decorative plasterwork and panelled ceilings all intact. Oak panelled entrance hall with decorative tiled fireplace, oak stair, fine plasterwork ceiling with elaborate oxidised silver light fitting, Bromsgrove Guild. Oak panelling by Scott Morton & Co (Library). Fireplaces in library and adjacent room with carving by Louis Reid Deuchars, supplied by Allen and Sons, 1908 (See Notes); fire grate by Thomas Hadden. Scullery and bathroom furniture survives.

GARDEN ORNAMENTS, INCLUDING STATUARY, URNS, PAVING, WALLS AND RUSTIC TIMBER ANCILLARY STRUCTURE: house raised on coursed, flat coped wall to SW upper terrace reached by central flight of stone steps flanked at top by 2 carved stone urns. Lead statue, 'The Snake Charmer', of child playing panpipes within granite basin to SE of house, 2 smaller statues of children to E, all from Bromsgrove Guild (1908). Irregular polygonal paving. Vertically boarded rustic timber, square-plan ancillary structure to S of house with window openings to W.

Statement of Special Interest

B-Group with Lodge, Gates and Gatepiers and Walled Garden (see separate listings). Situated on the banks of the River Dee, Rhu-na-haven survives inside and out almost completely intact. "The walls were built in the manner traditional in the district, of great [granite] blocks roughly axed on the face" (Hussey p73). Indeed the use of granite by Lorimer is probably limited to Rhu-na-haven and its surrounding buildings, thus making the house quite unique. Despite the difficulties of working with granite, Lorimer's design is one of finely detailed curvilinear gables contrasting with the simple massing and continuous eaves line. The 1909 design, with service quarters to the E, shows the NW bays as a single storey block with ogee-roofed terminating bay. In 1911 the NW wing was incorporated by Lorimer into the current near-symmetrical arrangement. The interiors at Rhu-na-haven are extremely fine. The Library fireplace cartouches were modelled, cast and carved for £40, and the original plaster model still exists, thought to be one of two by Deuchars exhibited at the Scottish Society of Artists in 1912-13. The Snake Charmer cost £31.10s. Six light fittings supplied by Bromsgrove Guild cost £50, whilst others, including that for the Hall, came to £16.1s: all in oxidised silver.

References

Bibliography

Robert Lorimer, PLANS, in private collection of owner; C Hussey, THE WORK OF SIR ROBERT LORIMER, (1931), p73-74, fig. 142, 147; NMRS Pamphlet, "Rhu-na-haven", COUNTRY LIFE, 27 September 1913, Vol. 34; ; F Wyness, ROYAL VALLEY: THE STORY OF THE ABERDEENSHIRE DEE, (1968), p280; P Savage, LORIMER AND THE EDINBURGH CRAFT DESIGNERS, (1980), p111-113; NMRS Plans and Photographs. Information courtesy of Marcus Humphreys and Louise Boreham (2004).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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