Tower House, 111 Sinclair Street, Helensburgh

Tower House is an Italianate villa dating back to around 1860, with later additions made in the late 19th century and in 1904 by R. Wemyss, and a billiard room added to the west around 1915. The house comprises a two-storey L-plan main block and a three-storey wing to the east, with a single-storey billiard room to the west. The construction is of squared, stugged, and brown sandstone, with the three-storey wing painted; ashlar dressings are also present. Architectural details include a base course, eaves course, raised margins, chamfered arrises, some mullioned windows, a bracketed cornice at ground level, overhanging bracketed eaves, decorative bargeboard, and a quoin strip.

The south (entrance) elevation features an advanced gabled bay to the right, with lower bays to the left. A narrow porch is set in the re-entrant angle, supported by squared columns and featuring a plain entablature, a pilastered doorway with double panelled doors, and a half-glazed vestibule door. A basket-arched window sits above the porch at the first floor. A tripartite window is located to the left at ground level, fitted with a retractable sun blind supported by metal brackets. A recessed bay above at the first floor has a five-light shallow canted window at its centre. The advanced gabled bay on the outer right has a corniced, canted window at ground level (a 1-3-1 configuration), with a tripartite window above at the first floor with semi-circular headed arches to each light. Decorative bargeboard adorns the gable, and there's a window on the return to the left at the first floor. A lower, single-storey section to the left has a canted window (1-3-1) beneath a shallow piended roof. The three-storey wing is set back to the right, with a chamfered chimney wall in the re-entrant angle, incorporating a door and window at the first floor. Windows are present at ground and first floor levels on the wing, and a tripartite window is positioned at the second floor with a bracketed sill.

The east elevation shows a three-storey return of the south wing to the outer left, with a two-storey canted window and windows at the second floor. A lower three-storey bay is positioned to the right, featuring an advanced gabled porch, double doors, and a half-glazed vestibule door. A small bipartite window is located above at the first floor, with a pilastered mullion, and a tripartite window above at the second floor. A taller three-storey gabled bay sits to the right of the porch, with a two-storey canted window and decorative iron brattishing. A bipartite window is positioned above at the second floor.

The north (rear) elevation displays a two-storey wing projecting to the centre.

The windows are primarily sash and case windows with four panes, some using plate glass. The roof is covered with grey slate, with corniced, rendered, and squared sandstone stacks. Internally, Tower House features corniced ceilings, original fireplaces, and iron balustered stairs. Cawdor Lodge’s interior was not inspected.

A boundary wall constructed of red sandstone rubble with a semi-circular coped top runs along the property.