Gate Piers And Obelisk, With Walls, 4 West Coates, Edinburgh

This mid 19th century Jacobean villa is a two-storey, three-bay building with a single-storey, single-bay addition on the east side. It is constructed from coursed, polished sandstone ashlar, featuring polished quoins and long and short surrounds. The villa includes a base course, a string course, and a balustrade with pierced strapwork on each advanced single-storey bay. There is also a string course and cornice on both floors of the two-storey canted bay, along with crowstep gables.

On the south (front) elevation, the centre of the two-storey main block has an advanced single-storey bay. This bay features a recessed, shouldered entrance with a timber door and a shouldered rectangular fanlight. Above, there is a balcony formed by a balustrade at the first floor window. The gabled dormer head has a flagpole, and the advanced single-storey bay to the right has a tripartite window. The first floor above this bay has a bipartite window with a balustrade balcony. To the left, there is an advanced two-storey and attic gabled bay, which includes a two-storey canted bay with four lights—two facing the front and one on each side. The attic gable has a single window, and there is a gabled single-storey bay to the left with an advanced tripartite window at ground level. A small, square, coped gablehead stack with a single can is also present.

The villa features 2-pane timber sash and case glazing, a grey slate roof, and coped gablehead stacks with original moulded octagonal cans. The painted cast-iron rainwater goods add to its character.

The boundary walls consist of a low sandstone wall along the street, with a centred pair of tall, corniced, square-plan gatepiers topped by obelisks. An obelisk is also set on the boundary wall to the right.