Boundary Wall And Gate-Piers, Laverockdale House, 66-68 Dreghorn Loan, Edinburgh

Laverockdale House is a substantial Scottish Baronial composition designed by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1907, comprising an irregular-plan 17th-century Scots style 3-storey tower house (number 66) with adjoining single-storey and attic former service wing to the north-east (number 68). The main house features crowstepped gables and stone-finialled wall-head dormers breaking the eaves. An advanced central stair-tower projects from the north-west elevation, with a slightly advanced gable at the south-east. A piend-roofed former play-pavilion to the outer south-west, connected to the house by a later single-storey link corridor, sits to the left. The approximately L-plan service wing to the north-east comprises a 3-bay range and 2-bay gabled cross-wing, advanced to the south-east elevation with ashlar-coped skews and scrolled skew-putts. A former detached 1920 laundry house to the north-east, now connected to the house by a flat-roofed glazed timber link-room, completes the composition. A courtyard garden lies to the north-west of the 3-bay range, enclosed by an original ashlar-coped wall featuring an arched gateway with studded timber-boarded door to the north-east.

The walls are constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with an eaves course. The south-east elevation displays regular fenestration; other elevations are fairly irregular. Old Forfarshire slates and stone ridge-tiles roof the structure, with ashlar-coped stacks bearing tall red clay cans. Cast-iron downpipes and one decorative hopper on the south-west elevation complete the external details.

The north-west entrance elevation presents the main house with its central stair-tower. An iron-studded timber-boarded door within a roll-moulded architrave surround occupies the left return of the advanced stair tower; its lintel bears the inscription "BLISIT BE GOD FOR ALL HIS GIFTIS", above which a cornice frames a blank panel flanked by carved scrolls and foliate decoration. The link corridor contains a single window. The former play-pavilion projects to the outer right with a wall-head stack; a studded timber-boarded door breaks the eaves, with a later wrought-iron balcony at attic storey to its left north-east return. The 4-bay advanced service wing features a chamfered corner at ground level, corbelled out above to a right-angle. An advanced bay with swept roof to the left of centre contains a half-glazed timber-panelled door with sidelights in a later recessed porch. A forward-facing gable to the outer left is accompanied by a slightly later flat-roofed timber-boarded outshot at ground. The former single-storey laundry-house to the north-east has a swept dormer breaking the eaves and gablehead stack to its left return, connected to the main house by an ashlar-coped wall with central timber-boarded door.

The south-east garden elevation shows the main house to the left in 3 bays with a gable to the right-hand bay. A central half-glazed timber-panel door with small-pane fanlight sits beneath a modern conservatory to the outer left. The former service wing, recessed to the right, comprises 3 bays with swept dormers breaking the eaves and a glazed door, with an advanced gable to the outer right. The laundry-house stands to the north-east with a swept dormer breaking the eaves, connected to the house by a glazed timber link.

The north-east side elevation displays mullioned bipartite windows at ground to the service wing with gablet-headed dormers breaking the eaves above. The main house features its service wing at ground, a forward-facing gable to the right, a finialled gablet-headed dormer at attic to the left, and a shouldered stack to the centre.

The south-west elevation presents a 2-gable-end to the main house with an asymmetrical gable to the left, slightly advanced and corbelled out at the second floor. The former play-pavilion, advanced to the outer left, displays the original pavilion's timber-boarded door; its later extension to the right features a catslide roof and tall stack, whilst a large modern picture-window at the ground floor right south-east return sits beneath an upper-storey corbelled out with a stone-finialled dormer breaking the eaves.

Windows predominantly feature 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case; some employ 6- and 9-pane glazing, whilst 6-pane casements appear on the north-west elevation.

The interior of number 66 retains timber panelling to the hall and principal ground floor rooms. Slightly later chimneypieces appear in the study (former drawing room), dining room (former school room) and drawing room, with an original grate remaining in the study. Compartmented ceilings feature in the hall and study. A mahogany stair banister ascends through the house. Unusually, timber-panelled doors with brass door furniture are found throughout.

A single-storey garden pavilion to the north-east of the house, possibly a former boiler house or apple house, features a bell-cast pavilion roof, studded timber-boarded door breaking the eaves to the south-west elevation, and a finialled dormer breaking the eaves to the south-east. A large stack with terracotta cans stands to the north-west. A garden terrace with random rubble retaining wall and two sets of stone steps completes the grounds.

The boundary wall to Dreghorn Loan is constructed of coped random rubble. Two pairs of tall pyramidal-capped gatepiers carry modern cast-iron gates.