17-19 Campbell Street, Helensburgh

This is an early 19th-century villa with substantial additions and alterations designed by William Leiper in 1891. Originally a 2-storey, 3-bay rectangular building, it was later extended to the rear, creating an L-shaped layout.

The villa's exterior presents a mix of materials. The south elevation utilizes painted rubble stone, with squared, coursed, and stugged stone on the south side, complemented by ashlar dressings. Subsequent additions incorporate stugged rake-jointed cream and red sandstone. Architectural details include base and lintel courses, a dentilled cornice, a parapet, and an interrupted moulded cill course at the first floor on the south side. Chamfered arrises and deep, bracketed eaves characterize the later additions.

The south (entrance) elevation features a central tripartite columnar doorpiece with an entablature, housing a two-leaf panelled door and flanked by what were originally blind windows, now painted over. A window sits above the door at the first floor. Flanking the central section are full-height, slightly advanced bays with ground-floor windows recessed within semi-circular headed panels, and first-floor windows above.

The east (Campbell Street) elevation displays two widely spaced windows at both ground and first floor levels on the left side. To the right, two bays are slightly recessed, featuring a door to the left and a bipartite window to the right, with a window above at the first floor. A further recessed bay on the outer right incorporates a later, corbelled addition at the first floor, a two-leaf panelled, fanlit door to the left, a narrow window to the right, and a small bipartite window above.

The north (rear) elevation shows the rear of the original villa in the center with two windows at ground and first floor. To the left, two windows are visible, and above those, on the addition, is a single window at the first floor. A slightly advanced bay marks the far right. Modern, 1940s enclosed forestairs abut the re-entrant angle and the outer left side.

The west elevation reveals the return of the north block, with two ground-floor windows and a first-floor window to the left. A chamfered angle features a corbelled and canted oriel wrapping around, with mullioned and transomed bipartite windows (2-2-2), and plate glass with lead-pane geometric glazing above. The oriel has a polygonal, bell-cast roof and a reduced finial. The south return exhibits a window at ground level, a window to the right, and a slightly recessed bay in the re-entrant angle, finished with harling at ground level and a window. A corbelled addition at the first floor features a tripartite window with lead-pane glazing. A wing projects to the right, featuring a canted projection in the re-entrant angle with a window "slapping" at ground level, a door to the return, and a four-light window at the first floor with a red tile-hung apron. Advanced bays of the original villa’s west elevation include a lean-to porch and two narrow first-floor windows, with the left window blinded. The west elevation of the villa itself has two widely spaced ground-floor windows, a canted oriel with a red tile-hung base exhibiting geometric glazing in the upper sashes, a cornice, a shallow roof, and a decorative finial, along with a window to the right.

Most windows are plate glass sash and case, with a geometric glazing pattern as noted above. A grey slate piended roof is topped with tall, corniced ashlar stacks, and a rooflight is present on the west side.

A brick boundary wall with an ashlar coping completes the site.