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Summary

Description

John Milne, dated 1865. Finely-detailed large asymmetrical multi-gabled Scots Baronial house, 3-storey with 1- and 2-storey wing and dominant 5-stage tower with corbelled and crenellated parapet prominently sited in Kennedy Gardens, now part of University Hall. Bull-faced squared and snecked sandstone rubble with ashlar margins. Distinctive use of crowstepped gables, corbelled conical-roofed bartizaned turrets, canted bay windows and stone dormerheads. Moulded architraves to windows.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: E (street) elevation; advanced round tower corbelled to square at top stage with tall 2-leaf 8-panel timber door with roll-moulded architrave. Decorative armorial panel dated 1865 to second stage flanked by architraved windows. Single central windows to 3rd and 4th stage of tower. Top stage with central star emblem below corbel course; turret to SW corner and stepped parapet. To right, 3-storey recessed crowstepped gabled bay. To far right, 2-bays with outer bay with pedimented dormerhead breaking eaves. Corbelled conical turret at NE corner. To far left, recessed 1- and 2-storey wing with later lean-to glasshouse with decorative multi-pane glazing, conical-roofed tower, and single crowstepped gabled bay.

Mixture of 8-pane and plate glass timber sash and case windows with horns. Graded grey slates; graded grey fishscale slates to conical roof turrets. Some ashlar coped gable stacks with cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: (partly seen 2007). Altered to form hall of residence for students of St Andrews University. Ground floor principal common room with simple timber and tile chimneypiece, 6-panel timber door and decorative plaster cornice and ceiling. Vaulted central corridor. Fine quality timber turned baluster staircase with timber handrails.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: low coped sandstone section of wall to SW curving inwards (E) incorporating bull-faced square-plan chamfered gatepiers with moulded caps.

Statement of Special Interest

An excellent example of the work of local architect John Milne (1823-1904), Wardlaw is sited on a prominent position along Kennedy Gardens overlooking North Haugh and the western approach road (A91) to St Andrews. Constructed in 1865 this is a finely detailed building with a plethora of Scots Baronial references such as crowstepped gables, turrets, canted bay windows and stone dormerheads. The tower is a particularly distinctive feature. Externally it remains largely unaltered. Whilst some alterations have been made to the interior for conversion to a hall of residence, the building was acquired by St Andrews University in 1947, many original features remain such as the fine timber baluster staircase and some decorative plasterwork.

John Milne was Clerk of Works to the celebrated Edinburgh-based Baronial architect David Bryce. Milne later established his own practice in St Andrews around 1850 and many of his early commissions such as Martyrs Free Church in St Andrews resulted from his close association with the Free Church. Later, partly through his position as a town councillor and Bailie, Milne was involved in the expansion of St Andrews and feued the Rathelpie area in 1854. This area included Wardlaw. He was also involved in street improvement schemes through tree planting in Market Street, The Scores, North Street, as well as the Lade Braes Walk. The University of St Andrews Library hold his personal Scrapbook (Ref: MS 37447) which contains newspaper cuttings and letters dealing with his career and several commissions, along with an anonymous 1903 publication Concerning His Designs (Hay Fleming Collection).

Wardlaw, originally Westerlee, was built for Mr Ewing Curwen at a cost of £4,700. The plans were given an honourable mention at the International Exhibition of Architecture in 1874 (A. Ledgard p. 27). At present (2007) Wardlaw Wing, together with Old Wing (1896/1911) and Lumsden (1962), comprise student accommodation for the University of St Andrews collectively known as University Hall.

References

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