Glenborrodale Castle, Turret House

Glenborrodale Castle, Sydney Mitchell, 1898-1902 A florid vision of Annan sandstone thrusting up from the sham fortifications of a great platform hewn out of the lower wooded slopes of Glen Borrodale. It was built to replace an earlier house for Charles Duneill Rudd, a vastly rich diamond magnate and close friend of Cecil Rhodes. The main tower, rising to five storeys and a caphouse, is separated from a secondary castellated turret house by a dormered 'chateau' block with balustraded terrace reached by a curving stair. Applied detail is Scots Renaissance, the pedimented panel rising up the main tower's angle drum redolent of Huntly Castle. A more baronial composition in the High Victorian sense than might have been expected for this date, the entrance front is peppered with Scots detail. But for all the external romantic imagery and massing, the interior is fairly restrained, although four surviving luxuriously tiled, original bathrooms, confirm an emphasis on modern comforts. A large walled garden with walls of blue engineering brick predates the castle, although the wrought iron gates are dated 1901. To the south, on a rocky outcrop, is an ornamental lake. Good ancillary buildings by Sydney Mitchell include H-plan stables/garage and lodge, 1898, in Arts & Crafts Scots Free style, and a notable range of smartly-finished, patternbook estate architecture along the birch-fringed lochside. Up the glen, Glen House, formerly the head gamekeeper's residence, is a substantial baronial villa. Simpler estate cottages such as the head forester's house and the crowstepped post office have rustic porches and a character distinct from the crofters' dwellings of the time, many of which had been 'improved' with slate and lime. Further afield, at Laga, the former laundry and rustic dairy flanking the farm manager's house conform to the same standards. The laundry is elevated above the loch for maximum ventilation, this facilitated by wagonwheel windows each end of the drying room, and a louvred ridge ventilator above the tiled washrooms. A drying green with poles survives on the opposite side of the road.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk