Description

Attributed to RM Cameron, circa 1900 with additions 1911 and 1915 by RM Cameron. Single-storey and attic Arts and Crafts suburban villa with Scottish features and asymmetrical plan, V-shaped to rear. Red tiled roof, stair turret and crow-stepped dormer to NW, turret and dormers to SE. White-painted render to first floor; snecked rubble with stugged sandstone and polished ashlar dressings to ground. Band course. Irregularly fenestrated.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-leaf timber panelled door to right of centre; roll moulded surround; bracketed, corniced timber canopy supported from above with decorative wrought-iron strut; TORWOOD in black lettering between lintel and canopy. Advanced, piend-roof stair tower to right with long window. Window flanking to left with later flat-roofed dormer above. Secondary timber panelled door with small window to left of centre; plate glass fanlight. Bipartite, crowstepped gabled dormer to attic. Later (1911), recessed service wing to outer left with 2 windows to ground and 2-light flat-roofed dormer to attic. Irregular fenestration to other bays.

SW (SIDE) ELEVATION: later glazing to attic. Lean-to 1915 extension below with large advanced flat-roofed canted bay to centre.

SE (GARDEN) ELEVATION: 4-bay with later (1911) service wing to R. Corbelled turret in angle with small window and finialled, conical roof. Quadripartite window flanking to right at ground; bipartite piend-roofed dormer above. Canted bay at ground to outer left. Tripartite window at ground to outer right with one section forming garden door; piend-roofed dormer above.

Predominantly small-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows; some casements. Coped rendered stacks (some shouldered) with red clay cans. Red tile gabled roof with blocked eaves and plain bargeboard to SW.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATE: ashlar-coped squared and snecked rubble boundary wall with decorative cast-iron gate

Statement of Interest

A relatively unspoilt villa on Woodhall Road, of great value to the streetscape. The plan of this house and its layout in relation to its plot is particularly interesting. The front of the house faces NW, and is parallel with the street. Like many houses in Colinton, the street elevation is mainly occupied by the service quarters, and originally had very few windows (the flat-roofed dormer, and the 2 windows under the crow-stepped dormer are later additions). In common with many other contemporary houses in Colinton, the principal living rooms are at the rear of the house, looking over the garden. What is unusual is that these rooms are set at an angle to the front of the house, so that they face due South, which means that they not only get the full benefit of the sun, but also look out over the maximum amount on garden. The service wing to the NE was added in 1911, and is at right-angles to the road, so that it is hidden from the garden by the rest of the house. This wing seems to have been enlarged or even rebuilt at some point, probably in the 1930s.

The house is attributed to Cameron on the basis that he built the additions. Cameron (1860-1921) was articled to David and John Bryce, and worked as an assistant government architect in the early 1880s, first for the Office of Works, and then to the Prison Board. He commenced independent practice in 1885.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56632384

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

• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)