Gates And Gate-Piers, Boundary Wall, 4 Spylaw Avenue, Colinton, Edinburgh

This is a two-story, square Arts and Crafts house with a single-story service wing, built in 1902 to a design inspired by Voysey. It is located at 4 Spylaw Avenue, Colinton, Edinburgh. The house is set within a boundary wall and gatepiers of random rubble with red sandstone ashlar gatepiers topped with pyramidal caps.

Architecturally, the main house features cream-painted harling with brown sandstone coping and a red sandstone doorpiece. It has gables to the south with a balcony between, and canted windows to the east and west. Notable features include deeply recessed windows, deep bracketed eaves, and a later greenhouse on the northwest side. The service wing has a swept, piend-roofed design and flat-roofed dormers, while the gables are finished with platform skewputts.

The east (entrance) elevation has a two-leaf, timber-panelled door with an elliptical arch within a chamfered, corniced architrave. A four-light canted window with a battered base sits to the left, above a tripartite window. The service wing projects to the outer right, containing a dormer and two windows. An arched entrance leading to an interior courtyard is found on the south return, along with a bipartite window. A broad, shouldered wall-head stack rises above the service wing on the main house.

The south (principal/garden) elevation is three bays wide and symmetrical. Advanced gables define the outer bays, each with quadripartite windows on both floors. A recessed central section incorporates a balcony with a tripartite window above a half-glazed door flanked by windows. Timber railings define the balcony's edge.

The west elevation has a five-light canted window with a battered base on the right and a tripartite window above. To the left, there are similarly positioned tripartite windows on both floors.

The north (rear) elevation presents a stepped composition with irregular window placement. A gable to the right features a bipartite window on the first floor. An original timber and glass greenhouse, with a brick base and outshot to the west, retains original timber shelves supported by cast-iron legs. The rear elevation displays an irregularly fenestrated section including a tall staircase window, an advanced gable with modern French doors on the ground floor and a tripartite window above, and an advanced service wing with a dormer to the attic and a boarded back door to the right return.

The windows are predominantly timber casements with leaded lights. Harled, corniced, shouldered stacks are a defining feature, and the roof is covered in red tiles with plain terracotta ridge tiles. Cast-iron downpipes are equipped with decorative hoppers.

Internally, the house retains original features including a half-glazed, timber-panelled door leading to a lobby and a large inner hall accessed through an arch. A timber chimneypiece with a decorative cast-iron grate sits within the hall. The staircase has fretwork balusters. Original fireplaces with timber chimneypieces and cast-iron grates are found in the study and dining room, while bedrooms feature original fireplaces, one including delft-tile insets. The scullery retains an original double sink, and a game larder provides a slate shelf.

A late 1930s or 1950s garage, harled with a piended roof and two-leaf timber boarded doors, is also present.