Description

1762. 3-storey, 7-bay, classical mansion with tall piano nobile on low square-windowed raised basement, dominant centre bay with urn-finialled pediment and heraldic design in tympanum. Rear office court with E wing converted to accommodation, France Smoor, late 20th century. Late 19th century N wing with crenellated parapet. Polished ashlar with rusticated quoins above basement. Deep droved base course and eaves cornice. Keystoned, Venetian doorcase with pilastered and corniced outer lights; architraved windows above basement, those to ground floor centre S and W pedimented.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: centre 3 bays advanced with Venetian doorpiece, panelled timber door, decoratively-astragalled fanlight and flanking windows to basement; 3 tall windows to piano nobile, centre window with semicircular pediment and flanking windows with triangular pediments; 3 windows to 1st floor giving way to pediment. Regular fenestration to recessed outer bays.

W ELEVATION: 3 bay elevation as 3 centre bays above but with window instead of door to centre at basement, without pediment and with 2 slate-hung dormer windows. Screen wall of rear court adjoining to outer left.

E ELEVATION: regularly fenestrated 5-bay elevation. Lower (2-storey) set-back 19th century wing to outer right, with 2 windows to each floor and crenellated wallhead. Single storey offices adjoining to outer right.

N ELEVATION: full-height advanced pedimented bay to centre with basement largely obscured by ancillaries and timber staircase, 2 windows to each floor above; bay to right similar, but ground floor window blocked; bay to left with advanced 19th century wing.

6- and 12-pane glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Coped ashlar stacks and ashlar-coped skews. Piend-and-platform roof.

INTERIOR: decorative and plain plasterwork cornices; panelled timber shutters; dado rails; chimneypieces mostly 1820s replacements. Entrance hall with keystoned segmental-arched opening and fluted pilasters giving way to big square stone stair with serpentine balusters, rising to full-height of house. Piano nobile rooms with coved angles, that to SW enriched with plasterwork rococo garlands; dining room to SE with black marble fireplace and timber dado. Library to centre of 1st floor with deep-coved ceiling, carved timber and gesso fire surround with marble lintel and slips, and iron grate; timber, mesh-fronted bookcases to E. Timber-balustered oval service stair. Box beds to attic room.

OFFICE COURT: single and 2-storey, rubble office court with pedimented, bell-towered archway to centre of W screen wall, further flanking pedestrian entrances, that to right segmental-headed, that to left with swagged lintel carving taken from Melville House, Fife. N range (now 2-storey) housed bake-house, coach-house and stabling converted to accommodation. E range, late 20th century conversion.

SUNDIAL: sundial situated immediately E of house. Probably 18th century, with stepped octagonal base, square plinth, raked shaft and square top.

WALLED GARDEN: Rectangular-plan walled garden to SW of Durie House. Flat-coped, brick-lined rubble walls, breached to E.

Statement of Interest

The lands of Durie were given, in 1260, to Gilbert son of Robert of Strathearn. The estate passed through marriage to Sir Alexander Kemp in the first half of the sixteenth century, and was acquired by Sir Alexander Gibson of Liberton in 1614. This gentleman became Lord Durie in 1621. The house was destroyed by fire in 1641, at which time the parish minister lodged there and all Kirk Session records were burned. History repeated itself in 1762 when Durie again burned down. The present house was taken over by Mr Peter Christie in the later 18th century, and has since remained in the Christie family. Coal produced in the estate collieries was of such high quality that according to Groome "even in Holland any prime coal was known as 'Durie coal' ". The office court formerly housed bake house, coach house and stabling to the N, and brew house to the E. The S range was raised to two storeys during the 19th century. Both main and service stairs were formerly lit by cast-iron cupolas. Durie Home Farm is sited to SW of Durie House, and the nearby dovecote is listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17572196

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)