Survey Data
Reg No
60230095
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
Newtown Park
Original Use
Gate lodge
Date
1870 - 1875
Coordinates
321696, 227830
Date Recorded
12/04/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, built 1872, on an L-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey gabled advanced porch; two-bay (east) or single-bay (west) single-storey side elevations. Occupied, 1911. Renovated to accommodate continued private residential use. Hipped slate roof on an L-shaped plan centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof (porch), clay ridge tiles centred on cement rendered chimney stack having concrete capping supporting terracotta pots, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on eaves boards on box eaves. Rendered walls on rendered plinth with rusticated rendered piers to corners. Camber-headed central door opening below blind rendered shield with cut-granite threshold, and moulded rendered surround framing replacement timber panelled door having overlight. Square-headed flanking window openings with cut-granite sills, and moulded rendered surrounds framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows. Interior including central hall retaining timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set in landscaped grounds on a corner site.
Appraisal
A gate lodge erected by Robert Barry Close (d. 1908) illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the Newtownpark House estate in the later nineteenth century with the architectural value of the composition, one attributed to John McCurdy (c.1824-85) owing to stylistic comparisons with a contemporary gate lodge (1863) at Craig More (see 6023----; Dean 2016, 137), suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on an expressed porch. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a gate lodge making a pleasing visual statement in Newtownpark Avenue.