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Caption: THE
DUNCAN
HOUSE
Caption: Some of you may recognise The Duncan House. I featured this property in a story called 'Modern' that I posted three months ago. That story was about three contemporary Scottish houses that I'd blogged about for the property consultancy @CKDGalbraith. I particularly loved this house, so was delighted when I had the opportunity to interview the owner recently. You can find the blog post with this interview on Copperline. While I wouldn't normally revisit a house here so soon, well, this house is worth a more in-depth viewing. I hope you agree.
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Caption: The owner of The Duncan House, Ian Lillicrap, wasn't looking for a house in Scotland when he spotted this property back in 2008.
“I’d never been to Scotland; I’d always wanted to visit but had never done it,” says Ian. “One Friday I was reading through a newspaper property section and I saw a photo of this house, of the main south elevation, and thought, ‘I love the architecture! Where is it?'”
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Caption: The Duncan House is one of those properties that makes you stop and look. There’s the striking architecture with the extensive use of glass and the dramatic sweeping roofline; the giant boulders integrated within the external landscaping as you approach; the contemporary interior style with its beautifully crafted timber detailing; and the setting within a historic walled garden – combine these elements and you have a distinctive and unique home.
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Caption: Ian has been looking for a second home in Leicestershire, where he grew up. As co-founder of the Cornwall estate agent Lillicrap Chilcott, Ian sees his fair share of properties and it takes something really special to stand out.
The Duncan House, which is now on the market with joint selling agents CKD Galbraith and The Modern House, is located at Ladybank in Fife, just sixteen miles from St Andrews. This was hardly Ian’s target location, but then, as he says: “This house was to die for.”
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Caption: Photography by
Exposure
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Caption: The Duncan House was built in 2002 and was designed by one of the UK’s most respected architects, Gareth Hoskins OBE of Hoskins Architects. This was the first private home Hoskins’ designed after starting his practice.
As Ian explains: “The original owner liked the architecture of Mies van der Rohe and wanted to have a house that was reminiscent of the Barcelona Pavilion” – a building Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed as the German national pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition.
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Caption: Hoskins has written this of the house: “The plan of the house is defined by two thick, white rendered masonry walls that contrast with the grey whinstone of the existing garden walls. These walls emphasise connections between old and new, inside and outside. Daylight is maximized by almost half of the external walls being glass… The main spaces are clean and uncluttered, with their main focus on the garden.”
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Caption: Ian recalls his first visit here. “I’m a stickler for quality and intricate detail,” he says, “and the second I walked through the front door and saw the quality of the finish, I knew this house was mine.”
The floor plan has two distinct zones: the main 47ft long reception room, with entirely glazed elevations on the south and west; and the bedroom wing, which extends along the east elevation, with three bedrooms, including the master suite.
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Caption: There's also an oval drum room: a soundproofed music room with a glass skylight, and with a low-level boxed rectangular window – a design that has created the perfect acoustic environment.
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Caption: "When you look at photos, you see the main broad sweep of the design,” Ian says, “but the more time you spend here, you more you notice the detail: the way the glazing subtly slopes, or the ceiling in the main reception room that slopes in two directions like the wing of a plane. There’s a clerestory on the north and east sides that subtly makes it look like the roof is floating. And the edge of the roof looks wafer thin, again like the wing of an aeroplane.”
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Caption: "There’s such clever joinery in the bedroom wing,” Ian continues. “The oversized bespoke oak doors have a panel beside them that makes the doors look even more imposing, only you don’t realize the effect of this detail until you spend time in the house. There are shadow gaps instead of skirtings, and also around the door frames, and the door leading into the drum room is about 1ft thick and has been very subtly curved to match the shape of the room.”
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Caption: The original owner also turned to a local furniture maker Max McCance who constructed the hinged oak panels that separate the full-height windows in the main living space, forming doors to the garden, and McCance made other timber features throughout the house.
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Caption: Ian has also invested significantly in the property since he arrived – although you wouldn’t realize this, which was the point as the improvements Ian made look original. “The weather had taken its toll on the oak cladding and the right product hadn’t been used on it from the start, so this was sanded and refinished and sealed,” he says.
Ian also replaced the external terraces, swapping limestone - the finish had not survived well in the Fife climate - with granite in the same tone as the original limestone.
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Caption: "When I arrived the garden was simply lawn, so you had the contrast between the architecture and this green carpet and the wonderful stone walls,” Ian says. “But I love gardens, so I had this professionally planted over a period of four years.” The new elements have been integrated with the original fruit trees, while those stone walls are now lined with climbing plants.
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Caption: Ian brought a few existing pieces to the interior, but then it naturally evolved. “I hung some colourful paintings by the Falmouth artist John Dyer and then added the Paul Smith rug, and the palette was inspired by this colour spectrum. And, as he says, “I can’t drive through Crail without visiting Crail Pottery and buying more.”
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Caption: The Duncan House is being marketed by joint selling agents
CKD Galbraith and
The Modern House
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Caption: Follow CKD Galbraith on Twitter
Follow The Modern House on Twitter and Instagram
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Caption: See the post on Copperline
#stellerspaces
#stelleruk