Description

Edward Calvert, 1888. 2-storey and attic 3-bay rectangular-plan villa with rear wing; cream sandstone, ashlar front and sides, coursed and squared stugged rubble to rear and wing; base course; band course above ground floor; banded cill course at 1st floor; ornate foliate capitals to columns and pilasters; eaves cornice with Greek key pattern frieze; angle pilasters to front and rear, rusticated at ground floor, moulded panels and sculpted capitals rising into scrolls at 1st floor; ashlar mullions. SE (FRONT) ELEVATION: central doorpiece with paired red granite Corinthian columns on panelled ashlar pedestals, frieze, cornice and swagged parapet above, 2-leaf panelled foor with narrow sidelights, rectangular plate glass fanlight, tiled vestibule, stained glass sidelights to inner door; at 1st floor round-arched bipartite window with red ganite columnar mullion and floral carving to pilasters in slightly advanced scroll-flanked panel; segmental carved pediment above with shell carving in tympanum; ashlar scroll-flanked dormer with round-arched bipartite window with ref granite columnar mullion and scrolled open pediment framing urn. Outer bays comprised of full-height canted windows (1-2-1); ground floor windows with central red granite columnar mullion; 1st floor windows with aprons of Vitruvian scroll carving and stilted segmental-arched windows with central red granite columnar mullion and panelled pilasters; timber dormers with carved segmental pediments with shell motif in tympana to roof space above.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: single storey and attic full-length rear wing with mansard roof, attic windows with segmental pediments, single windows to inner bays, bipartite windows to outer bays, corniced wallhead stack on SW return; 4 round-arched stair windows with stained glass roundels of the seasons and stained glass oculi above in ashlar dormer with moulded parapet and cast-iron brattishing to main block. Modern large single storey flat-roofed extension.

NE (ETTRICK ROAD) ELEVATION: segmental-arched windows; at ground floor and 1st floor 2 bipartite windows to left bays, 2 single windows to right bays; ashlar-fronted box dormer with 3 windows and Greek key pattern frieze framed by scroll-flanked corniced wallhead stacks; bipartite window to rear wing.

SW ELEVATION: at ground floor bipartite windows to left bays; at 1st floor bipartite window to outer left bay, single window to bay to left of centre; single windows to rear wing; ashlar fronted box dormer with 3 windows and Greek key pattern frieze framed by scroll-flanked corniced wallhead stack. Timber sash and windows with plate glass glazing; green slate piend and platform bellcast roof, 5 wallhead stacks (see above), 1 central stack, ornamental grooved cans; moulded eaves gutter.

INTERIOR: caryatid corbels and anthemion frieze to entrance hall; stair with carved timber balustrade; 5-bay arcaded mezzanine gallery, 4-light stained glass window of seasons; some carved timber fireplaces.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: high rubble boundary wall with semi-circular coping to Ettrick Road, tall square gatepiers with ogee coping; low rubble wall to Colinton Road with ornate moulded gatepiers with arched copings with anthemion carving.

Statement of Interest

This was the most elaborate of the series of French style villas along Colinton Road which Edward Calvert designed for the builder Peter Craig Renton.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17806761

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

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)