Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Adam Frame of Thomas Frame and Son, circa 1860. 2-storey, asymmetrical gabled villa (divided into 3 houses) with elaborately carved timber bargeboards and pendants to gabled bays of principal (south) elevation; set within large private grounds and including fine interior. Squared, snecked and droved sandstone with ashlar dressings. Predominantly flat-arched windows. Some four-centred arched windows with Y-tracery glazing. Windows to principal (south) elevation with roll-moulded reveals. Exposed rafter end to gabled bays of side and rear elevations. 1 pointed timber finial remaining to centre gabled bay (other finials now missing).

Principal (south) elevation has 3 irregular bays (No. 18). Central door with leaded fanlight deeply set in four-centred arched surround with hood-mould. Advanced gabled bay to right of centre with 2-storey canted window and crenellated parapet, and blind quatrefoil in gable head. Shallow advanced, chamfered and gabled bay to left of centre with bipartite window at ground floor. Lower 2 storey, 2-bay, gabled wing (No. 16) adjoined to right (west) and set back with wider left bay with later door and bipartite window above with decorative hood mould. Late 19th century single storey gabled addition to left (east) with circa 2010 single storey pitched roof addition to the front of this.

West elevation comprises 3-bay gable to right, with bipartite window at 1st floor of gable flanked by narrow round-arched windows, and late 19th century 4-bay range (No. 14) to left, with a central gable breaking wallhead. Entrance door with square and margin-paned fanlight.

Variety of glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows; Y-tracery astragals to upper sashes of 4-centred arched windows. Slate roofs. Stepped and corniced end stacks and octagonal flues.

The interiors were seen in 2014 and include fine plasterwork ceilings. No. 18 is characterised by intricate plaster ceilings and timber fixtures. Entrance hall has timber panelling to walls with a dentilled cornice, and incorporating marble and timber mantelpiece. Four-centred arch on corbels to openings off hallway. Large round arched opening with timber detailing leading to staircase with iron balustrade and chamfered newel posts with blind quatrefoil motif. Drawing Room has a mantelpiece with figurative and floral decoration and a compartmented ceiling with quatrefoil motif. Dining room has a classical mantelpiece and compartmented ceiling incorporating acanthus and floral motifs and ceiling rose. Coombed ceiling with opaque square skylight over staircase. Decorative cornicing to principal rooms, in a variety of motifs. Corbelled and vaulted ceilings to 1st floor rooms, with room to southeast corner with elaborate compartmentalised ceiling. No. 14 has a tiled floor to entrance hall, moulded cornicing and window shutters to some rooms.

Boundary Walls and Gatepiers: rubble boundary walls to south, heightened circa 2005, with roll-moulded ashlar copes and chamfered and square-plan gatepiers with moulded caps. Brick boundary walls to west, north and east. Square gatepiers with ball finials set in north wall to east.

Statement of Special Interest

Beechwood House dates to around 1860 and retains very fine interior details, including elaborate plasterwork and high quality timber work. The exterior of the property has a number of distinguishing architectural details, including elaborate timber bargeboards, moulded architraves, stepped stacks and some Y-tracery windows. This high-quality detailing and the scale of the property is indicative of a house of some status in Tillicoultry, a village associated with the woollen industry and which is characterised by 19th century single storey and attic cottages. From the 1870s Beechwood was occupied by the prolific local wool mill owner, James Archibald and his family.

Around 1892 ancillary structures, including a curling pond, swimming pool and tennis court were constructed to the north of Beechwood House, and are shown in the 1892 plans as well as the 2nd edition OS map. These buildings were demolished after 1985 and the site redeveloped for housing. The gatepiers with ball finials to this area of land have been incorporating into the north garden wall.

The house was divided before the date of listing in 1979. In 2004 a single storey addition was built to the east elevation, to replace a 20th century addition which had itself replaced a conservatory.

The 1861 census and a newspaper article from 1865 records that Beechwood house was owned by James Snowdoune, a quarry owner, and his family. By the 1871 census the house was owned by the prolific local wool mill owner, James Archibald and his family. In the 1861 census the Archibalds lived in Stirling Street, a street which was laid out as part of the expansion of Tillicoultry and which is characterised by cottages for mill workers.

Adam Frame (1837-1901) was a Dumfermline based architect who around the early 1860s went into practice with his father, Thomas Frame, the firm becoming Thomas Frame and Son, architects, land surveyors and measurers. As well as private houses the practice designed schools, churches and commercial buildings in a range of styles, including neo-classical and Gothic, and they predominantly worked in Clackmannanshire and Fife. The practice's work includes a tenement on Mill Street in Alloa, Townhill Primary School in Fife and the former Post Office and Savings Bank in Alloa (see separate listings). Beechwood House is one of Adam Frame's earliest buildings.

Listed building record and statutory address updated in 2014. Previously listed as 'Beechwood, Dollar Road'.

References

Bibliography

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.