Boundary Wall And Gate-Piers, 49 Spylaw Bank Road, Edinburgh

Boundary Wall And Gate-Piers, 49 Spylaw Bank Road, Edinburgh

This boundary wall and gate-piers form part of the setting for a substantial house designed by Sir Robert Lorimer between 1887 and 1899. The house itself is a 2-storey structure with a 3-storey wing to the east, built in an irregular-plan English style with Arts and Crafts details. The building is constructed of cream-painted harl with red sandstone cills and dressings, dominated by a bell-cast piended roof with some gables. Key architectural features include a central swept-roof porch on the north elevation, a verandah to the south with bracketed eaves and flanking bays, an advanced round tower to the west, and a service wing at the northeast corner. The first floor corbels out to the west, and flat-roofed dormers light the attic storey.

The north entrance elevation contains a recessed porch with a timber-panelled door set in a stop-chamfered round arch, dated 1899 on its keystone with rosettes in the flanking voussoirs. A tripartite window with roll-moulded red sandstone mullions sits to the right, separated by a pilaster with a leaf motif capital. A tripartite dormer sits above. A piend-roofed 2-storey bay with a single window at first-floor level projects to the right, while a gabled bay containing a tall staircase window projects to the left. A recessed service wing stands at the outer left, with a single-storey outshot at ground level behind a coped parapet wall.

The west elevation features the advanced round tower at centre with single windows at both floors, a stack to the left, and a gable to the outer left containing tripartite and bipartite windows at ground and first-floor levels respectively. A blind wall faces right of the tower.

The south garden elevation is dominated by a central recessed verandah sheltered under a swept roof supported at its centre by a timber Y-shaped post. A tripartite window sits at the rear of the verandah, with an advanced canted bay to the right and a large dormer above in the swept roof. A 2-storey piend-roofed bay to the left contains a 5-light window at ground level and a quadripartite window at first floor, with a half-glazed timber-panelled door opening onto the verandah. A distinctive 3-storey bay to the right features a canted corner corbelled out at first and second floors and an asymmetrical jerkin-headed roof, with modern sliding doors at ground level, a quadripartite window at first floor, and a bipartite window at top floor; a single window illuminates the canted corner at ground level.

The east elevation displays an advanced piend-roofed bay at centre containing 2 sash and case windows at ground and a bipartite casement at first floor. The wing recesses irregularly to the left with a dormer at second-floor attic level. A single-storey scullery projects slightly further to the outer right, fitted with a half-glazed door and flanking windows.

The building features predominantly timber casements with leaded lights, supplemented by 12-pane glazing in some timber sash and case windows. Rendered corniced stacks with red clay cans support a red tiled roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods include one decorative hopper to the west.

Interior spaces display notable decorative detail. The pine staircase features decorative panels between balusters carved with an interlaced floral and vine pattern. The landing ceiling carries a deep cornice and vine frieze with decorative plaster vine motifs at the corners. The Drawing Room contains a stop-chamfered stone fireplace with thin brick inset and a substantial pine mantelpiece with integral plate-rack forming the over-mantel; a tiled hearth sits within a raised stone surround, with a brass bell to the right. A semicircular alcove entered through a round arch opens to the left of the fireplace, decorated with a foliate plaster frieze and ornamental plasterwork to the ceiling incorporating the date "1898" interlaced with foliage and berries. The Dining Room fireplace features a similar brick inset and red sandstone surround, with a timber mantelpiece incorporating compartmental shelves, and a brass bell to the left. Polished pine timber-panelled interior doors throughout carry Lorimer-designed brass door furniture and reeded brass door plates. Principal rooms feature cornices, and a cast-iron lamp illuminates the verandah.

A motor house—a harled garage for a single car—stands separately, fitted with top-glazed timber-boarded folding doors and a red tiled roof.

The boundary wall consists of round-coped random rubble construction. Gate-piers feature corniced detailing, some with small ball caps, and are accompanied by timber-boarded gates with iron studs and pointed arch details. A garden terrace to the property features a coped snecked sandstone retaining wall with a central flight of 5 stone steps descending to the lawn.