Bowmont Tower, 39-41 Greenhill Gardens, Edinburgh

Bowmont Tower is a large, irregular Italianate villa dating from around 1860. Built on a substantial scale, it is located at 39-41 Greenhill Gardens, Edinburgh, and is of group value. The building is constructed of cream-coloured sandstone, with stugged ashlar facing the south and east elevations, and squared and snecked stugged rubble to the rear and side.

The design incorporates a four-stage engaged entrance tower, which is battered at its base and features clasping buttresses. The doorway on the east side has an architraved surround and bracketed cornice; a two-light window has been inserted into the former doorway on the south side. The second stage of the tower includes a small window, border glazing, round-arched astragals, and a consoled balustraded balcony above the entrance door. A small window is also present on the east and south sides of the third stage. The top stage has tripartite windows with border glazing on each face, overhanging eaves, and a small wallhead stack to the north.

The east elevation has two bays, with the entrance tower on the outer left and a broad gabled bay to the right, featuring single windows to both ground and first floors, the latter with a bracketed cill. A wallhead stack is positioned above the right bay. The left bay has two small round-arched windows on the ground floor and a recessed first floor featuring a balustraded balcony and a round-arched bipartite window with border glazing and round-arched astragals.

The south elevation is three bays wide, with the tower on the far right. The centre bay features a full-height canted window that sweeps to a square in the gablehead. A fragment of a former conservatory remains to the right of the centre bay, and single windows have been inserted into the ground floor (in place of a former door) and the first floor. To the left of the centre bay, a projecting tripartite window was added in 1899 at ground floor level, with a single window above.

The rear (north) elevation presents three bays, with an advanced gabled bay to the right, containing a single window and a wallhead stack. A secondary door is located in the centre bay, above a single window. The left bay is blank. A single-storey outhouse with a piend roof adjoins the building to the northwest. The west elevation has a recessed bay to the left with single windows, and a blank bay to the right with a wallhead stack at the corner.

The building is fitted with timber sash and case windows, mostly with 12 panes, with some plate glass glazing. The roof is slate, with metal flashings. Two coped wallhead stacks are present, with corniced square cans.

The interior has been subdivided but retains original features, including a tiled vestibule, a timber staircase with turned balusters and a fluted newel post. The underside of the stair is decorated with plasterwork in a 17th-century style. The first-floor drawing room features an ornate cornice with sculpted heads and floral plasterwork in the ceiling corners.

A tall rubble wall with semi-circular coping and square coped gatepiers define the pedestrian entrance.