Wardlaw began to construct the house in 1615. It was originally built to a U-shaped plan, with a symmetrical layout comprising a rectangular main body about long, two short wings projecting to north, and spiral staircases rising up both interior angles. The roof originally had crow steps on the gables and dormer windows, with the only entrance on the inner side of the west wing: a matching door in the east wing led down to a blind cellar. There were only small windows on the ground floor. Pitreavie is considered to be an important example of an early 17th-century symmetrically-planned house, in the style of Sir James Murray, the King's Master of Works, and is similar to his Baberton House of the 1620s. The grounds were planted as a wilderness in the late 17th century, with acres of ash, birch and elm trees.