Westermillig, 18 Millig Street, Helensburgh

Westermilland, 18 Millig Street, Helensburgh

A 2-storey asymmetrical French-style villa designed by William Leiper around 1870, with significant additions by A N Paterson and Douglas Campbell in 1903. The building is constructed of stugged, snecked red sandstone with ashlar dressings, harled at the rear. It features a base course, chamfered arrises, and a variety of bipartite and tripartite ashlar mullioned and transomed windows. The eaves are bracketed and the gables are bargeboarded.

The south elevation is the principal entrance front. A semi-octagonal bay projects to the right with three ground-floor windows fitted with bracketed lintels and sash-and-case glazing with honeycomb leaded panes to the upper sashes. Three shouldered-arch windows at first-floor level feature jetted bargeboarded gables that break the eaves, surmounted by a finialled polygonal roof. To the left is a recessed 2-bay wing with a lean-to timber-framed loggie at ground level (now glazed) and two first-floor windows with modern glazing. A single-storey entrance block projects on the return to the right of the semi-octagonal bay. A gabled timber-framed porch is set at an angle within a re-entrant angle, with a tall bracketed bargeboarded gablehead now glazed as a fanlight above two-leaf panelled doors. The deep-set vestibule door retains two stained glass panels (the middle panels were formerly also glazed). A brass Art Nouveau finger plate is fitted to the door. The entrance block features a bipartite window with cusped arches to each light on its east face, and a small window on its right return.

The east elevation includes a tall wallhead stack to the outer left and a first-floor window to its right. Two bays recessed to the right of the entrance block contain a bipartite hall window with leaded glazing on the left and a first-floor window above. A taller gabled bay to the right has a bipartite ground-floor window with leaded glazing to the upper sashes and a first-floor window. The 1903 extension comprises a single-storey wing to the outer right with two windows to the east face (the right window has modern cladding) and a 5-sided canted bay at the north-east angle breaking the eaves, crowned with a polygonal roof. This bay has transomed windows to each face with leaded glazing to the fixed upper panes.

The north (rear) elevation features a cusped 3-light mullioned and transomed stair window to the centre with a pointed relieving arch. A single-storey wing with a piended roof abuts to the left, with a reduced wallhead stack to the north; a modern single-storey flat-roofed addition abuts this wing. A 2-storey L-plan wing to the right has three dormer-headed windows and a wallhead stack to the centre and left; modern flat-roofed additions abut to the north.

The west elevation comprises a taller gabled bay to the outer right with a tripartite ground-floor window (leaded glazing to the upper sashes) and a bipartite window above. Two bays recessed to the left contain a modern flat-roofed porch in a re-entrant angle with a transomed window above, and bipartite windows at ground and first-floor levels to the left. A lower single-storey and attic wing to the left has three asymmetrically disposed ground-floor windows and a dormer-headed window to the right at first-floor level, with a rooflight to the left. A 2-storey wing abuts the north-west angle with a central door, garage cladding to the left, and asymmetrically disposed windows.

The roof is of green slate with red ridge tiles; at least five modern rooflights face south and west. The windows are predominantly plate glass sash-and-case, with leaded glazing as noted above.

The interior features corniced ceilings, timber chimneypieces, and timber balustered stairs. The stair window contains decorated stained glass, probably by Daniel Cottier, depicting floral and animal motifs.

The boundary walls are of red sandstone rubble with semi-circular coping. Ashlar piers feature roll-moulding to the angles and finialled pyramidal caps, with iron gates hung between them.