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Ardmarnock House
Country House (19th Century)
Site Name Ardmarnock House
Classification Country House (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Ardmarnoch House
Canmore ID 76429
Site Number NR97SW 25
NGR NR 91630 72847
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/76429
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- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilfinan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR97SW 25 91630 72847
See Architecture.
Field Visit (August 1986)
This late-Georgian house stands on a terrace in wooded policies 0.7km from the E shore of Loch Fyne. The Ardmarnock estate was created by John Maciver's purchase of several contiguous farms in 1826 (en.1), and the rectangular main block of the house was probably built at about that date. Following the sale of the estate to Dr John Nicol of Liverpool in 1852, a baronial NE wing was added about 1880, probably by his son, Donald Nicol, MP for Argyll (en.2). The estate remained the property of the Nicol family until about 1980. At the date of survey an extensive programme of renovation was in progress.
The Georgian block measures 16.lm from NNE to SSW by13.6m over 0.85m walls, and comprises a partly-sunk basement and two upper storeys with a hipped and slated roof. Its rubble masonry is covered with rendering incised in imitation of ashlar, and the copious dressings are of fine-grained white sandstone; the rear elevation is harled.
The principal or W facade, and the side-elevations, are of three bays. An ashlar base-course and a continuous band at principal floor-level are linked by broad quoins, whereas the upper floors have narrow quoins with moulded bases, terminating in a plain course below the projecting cornice and low parapet which to the w carries a central blocking feature. Whereas the basement windows have plain ashlar margins, the tall windows of the principal floor have moulded architraves and cornices, and the upper openings have similar architraves; all retain their original sash windows. The position of the E windows in the N wall was altered when the baronial wing was added, and they were reduced in width although the original dressings were reused. In the E wall there is an elliptical-headed doorway into the rear area, and a tall central round-headed stair-window. All openings in this wall have plain surrounds, and several of them have been altered.
The central doorway in the w front is reached by a stone stair with cast-iron balustrades, carried on a vaulted cellar. Its portico has freestanding fluted Ionic columns with matching pilasters, supporting a high entablature and moulded cornice. The door is set in a timber frame with narrow sidelights and a rectangular fanlight.
The symmetrically-planned interior incorporates two flue-bearing walls flanking a narrow central division, in which a stone-flagged lobby is separated from the inner hall by a glazed timber screen with a broad elliptical fanlight. Whereas the lobby has a simple dentillated cornice, the inner hall and stair-hall have alternating modillions and quatrefoils, and are separated by an elliptical plaster arch with Ionic responds and decorated soffit. The doorways to the front rooms have panelled ingoes and soffits, while those in the stair-hall are set in elliptical-headed recesses, as are those on the bedroom-floor.
The geometrical stair, lit by a tall round-headed window, has stone treads and an iron balustrade with timber handrail. Its ceiling and that of the upper landing have egg-and-dart cornices, separated by a plaster lintel with Ionic responds similar to those in the hall. A small timber stair in the end division of the bedroom-floor gives access to the garrets, while the basement is reached by a continuation of the main stair.
The large room in the SW angle has an elaborate cornice with anthem ion frieze and Greek key-pattern, while the dining-room to the rear has an egg-and-dart cornice. In the former room is an elaborate chimneypiece of white marble with freestanding female terms supporting a lintel carved with female masks among acanthus ornament, and having a central allegorical plaque. The dining-room has a plain chimney-piece of white-and-grey marble, and several of the rooms on the floor above have smaller chimneypieces in the same style, some with lintels depressed below the tops of their jambs. The chimneypiece of the NW room on the principal floor has been replaced, but two original semicircular niches remain in the E wall.
The bedroom-floor retains most of its original layout, although the NE room has been divided to form an access corridor to the baronial wing, as on the floor below. In each main division there was a front bedroom with adjacent dressing-room and a small closet, while the SW room also communicated with a smaller bedroom at the centre of the W front. Two further bedrooms occupied the rear of this floor. The garret has an axial corridor flanked by small rooms lit by skylights or, at the rear, by inserted dormer windows.
Until the construction of the baronial wing the Georgian house was freestanding (en.3), and the basement, whose lay-out resembles that of the principal floor, evidently contained the service-accommodation. The kitchen and servants' hall were subsequently removed to the new wing, and the old kitchen in the NE angle became a laundry. The large SW room became a billiard-room, with access to a library at the rear, and the NW room was divided into an estate-office and storeroom. In addition to the service-accommodation, the late 19th-century wing contained guest-rooms. Its W front displays crow-stepped gables and dormers, and a two-storeyed window-bay with crenellated parapet.
RCAHMS 1992, visited August 1986
Measured Survey (28 July 1986 - 30 July 1986)
RCAHMS surveyed Ardmarnock House between 28-30 July 1986 producing a front (west) elevation and principal- and first-floor plans at a scale of 1:100. The plans and elevation were redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:250 (RCAHMS 1992, 313B).
Measured Survey (July 1986)
RCAHMS surveyed Ardmarnock House in July 1986 producing a detail plan and elevation of the vestibule inner screen a scale of 1:20. The plan and elevation were redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:50 (RCAHMS 1992, 314B).
