The Linn, Shore Road, Cove

The Linn is a villa dating from 1858, designed by William Motherwell, with additions made in the early 20th century. It is a two-story building with an asymmetrical, rambling plan and includes a tower, exhibiting Italianate details. The exterior is constructed from whinstone and sandstone rubble, with harl pointing, ashlar sandstone margins, bull-faced dressings, and bull-faced quoins. Projecting bracketed eaves are a prominent feature.

The east (entrance) elevation features an advanced M-gable with a long jamb to the left, a 20th-century porch set in the re-entrant angle, and a curved bay attached to a rendered 20th-century block to the right. A broad M-gable connects with a slender bay of bipartite windows; the ground floor of the gables has bipartite windows, the first floor of the gable to the right has a single window, and the gable to the left has a bipartite window. The porch, a rectangular 20th-century addition, is set at an angle and features a grey slate piend roof with lead flashings and a moulded eaves cornice. A roll-moulded door is located at the northwest corner, sheltered by a bracketed lintel. A narrow window is positioned on the first floor to the outer right of the jamb, over the porch, and a blank recessed panel with a shouldered wallhead stack is centered above. The curved bay to the right has a bipartite window on the ground floor and a canted tripartite window bridging the corner on the first floor, with timber mullions. This bay is linked to a cement-rendered block to the right, which has a blank ground floor and a dormerheaded window, with a raised concrete cill.

The west (garden) elevation comprises a five-bay main block with an earlier 20th-century service block and outbuildings attached to the left. The main block is near-symmetrical with a tower and a recessed bay to the right. It consists of broad, advanced gables with a recessed link bay at the center. One gable features a canted bay window with a lead, half-piended roof and bracketed eaves, and a round-headed window at the gablehead on the first floor. The other gable has a bipartite window on the ground floor and a round-headed window on the first floor. An arcade of five-light windows with round-headed glazing is on the ground floor of the central block, with a balcony above and a door flanked by windows. The two-stage tower is recessed to the right and features a round-headed window with leaded glass on the ground floor and a bracketed cill course delineating the towerhead, with three shoulder-arched windows and advanced bracketed eaves, acroteria, and a finial. The recessed bay to the outer right has a tripartite projecting window on the ground floor and three small blind arches above. A lower, two-bay service block is attached to the left, with a segmental arched pend containing a small window above, and a window and dormerheaded window to the outer left. Single-story garden sheds and outhouses are attached to the outer left.

The south elevation has a gable with a bow window on the ground floor, bracketed eaves, and a round-headed window at the gablehead.

The north elevation features an earlier 20th-century cement-rendered block with a dormerheaded window at the center, flanked by two tall, corniced wallhead stacks. Single-story garden sheds and outhouses are attached at ground level.

The windows are four-pane plate glass sash and case windows. The roof is covered with grey slate, with lead flashings. Rendered and coped wallhead and ridge stacks are also present.

Inside, the porch has a red tiled floor with a wooden panelled dado. A simple stair features cast-iron barley-sugar balusters, and the plasterwork is simple in design.