88 Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen

This is a two-storey and attic villa, likely built in 1885 and possibly designed by William Smith, with John Sangster acting as the builder. It is an example of Scots Baronial architecture. The villa’s exterior is constructed of rough-faced granite with finely finished margins. It incorporates a base course, chamfered cills, an eaves course, crowstepped gables, and gableted timber dormers featuring round-arched glazing.

The north-west elevation, facing Hamilton Place, is asymmetrical and three bays wide. A recessed doorpiece features a Tudor-arched doorway with chamfered reveals, a panelled timber door with a fanlight above, and single windows to the flanking bays. The first floor has regular window placement, and the attic has two dormers to the left and a gabled bay to the right. An angle turret corbels out at the first floor, featuring a central window and a conical slate roof with an iron finial.

The south-west elevation, facing Fountainhall Road, is also asymmetrical and four bays wide. A prominent, oversized circular tower is located in the left-hand bay, featuring three windows on both the ground and first floors, and a conical roof with a louvred lucarne and an iron weathervane at the apex. A blank gabled bay sits centrally, with regular fenestration in the flanking bays at ground and first floor levels. Two dormers are present in the attic.

The south-east elevation is gabled and includes a doorway to the ground floor with a window above, along with a single-storey addition to the right. A stained glass stair window is found in a recessed bay to the outer right.

The north-east elevation is also gabled, featuring a glazed timber door to the centre of the ground floor and a window to the flanking bay to the right.

The windows are timber sash and case windows with two panes to each. The roof is covered in grey slate with a lead ridge, and incorporates stone skews. Coped stone gablehead stacks are topped with circular cans, and cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted.

Internally, the villa features a panelled timber hall accessed through a panelled timber door with a decorative stained glass upper pane, surrounded by stained glass panels. The staircase has turned balusters and a decorative newel post, with a stained glass window positioned behind. Original fireplaces, with marble and carved timber detailing, remain, as do original mouldings, including decorative scrolled brackets supporting a beam over the stair. A spiral staircase is located on the south-east side.

The property is enclosed by a pink rough-faced granite boundary wall, coped with grey granite ashlar. Iron gates are positioned to the west and north. A gate pier to the left of the gate at Hamilton Place has a grey granite shaft that sweeps up from a plinth, a rough-faced pink granite neck surmounted by a scrolled cap, and a low granite wall to the right.