Description

Circa 1830. 2-storey 3-bay classical villa with late 19th century dormers; subdivided early 20th century. Shallow advanced bay to centre; original timber panelled outer door with letterbox fanlight recessed within moulded architrave; scroll-bracketed cornice above. Windows with raised cills; architraved surrounds to 1st floor. Base course; eaves course and cornice; centrally raised panelled blocking course. 2 large 4-light piended canted dormers. Later (cement) rendered façade; sandstone rubble to side and rear with raised margins.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: 2 storeys, attic and basement; irregular fenestration.

Timber sash and case plate glass windows to 1st floor (originally 12-pane, astragals knocked-out), uPVC windows to ground; 1 original window to ground rear with 12-pane upper and lower sashes, 1 16-pane window to basement. Grey slates; straight skews; brick end stacks with octagonal clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: entrance hall with later classical-style vestibule doors to either dwelling; bracketed depressed arch and dentil cornice. Stone stair to 1st floor with later timber balustrade, original cast-iron section to landing with mahogany handrail surviving; domed cupola above with moulded panels and dentil cornice. Later timber stair to attic with cast-iron balustrade and mahogany handrail. Former drawing room with fine anthemion and palmette cornice with ancathus fleurons above, cornucopia frieze below; elaborate leaf design ceiling rose. Panelled doors with 8 fields throughout, those in 1st floor drawing room with timber pilasters supporting entablatures. No surviving original chimneypieces; that to 1st floor sitting room Edwardian carved oak overmantel, green glazed tile slip and brass hood.

Statement of Interest

Eglinton Street in the early 19th century was populated by prosperous merchants, manufacturers and professionals. The grandest houses in the street are on this, the north side, and are largely of a later date than those on the opposite side. No 46 was probably subdivided into two dwellings circa 1900, when the attic stair and dormers were added. Prior to this, the house was typical of its type in that a broad entrance hall gave access to four rooms including the dining room; in the basement was the kitchen, larder (apparently still with marble shelves, not seen 2003) and laundry. Servants were likely accommodated in the basement too. On the principal first floor, reached by the stone stair lit by a domed cupola, the broad hall gave access to the drawing room at the front of the house. This room, with its two south facing windows, is brighter and more decorative than any other in the house. The plasterwork of the ceiling and cornice is fine and fashionable for a provincial town, the anthemion and palmette design being a key component of Regency decoration.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17829167

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)