78 Polwarth Terrace, Edinburgh

78 Polwarth Terrace, Edinburgh

A double villa on a corner site, designed by James Jerdan in 1896. The building is of 2 storeys with an attic, built to an asymmetric irregular plan with a basement to the rear. It displays Scottish Renaissance details throughout, constructed in coursed and snecked rubble with red sandstone dressings. The masonry features long and short quoins, a 1st floor cill course, and moulded coping to the gable skews with waved skewblocks.

The south-east elevation fronting Polwarth Terrace comprises 4 bays. A string course runs above the ground floor except to the outer right bay, which is gabled. The outer right bay contains a panelled entrance door with an adjoining window, both set beneath an open segmental pediment with carved detail and roll-moulded margins, with a single window above. To the left stands a 2-storey canted window with a scalloped parapet (the raised basement is a later addition). The gable head contains an ashlar mullioned tripartite window, corniced with a semi-circular pediment over the central window and linked to the gable finial by carved detail. A 2-storey bowed window to the outer left breaks the eaves with a scalloped parapet. An ashlar mullioned bipartite window occupies the ground floor to the left of centre, with a single window above featuring roll-moulded margins and a semi-circular pedimented dormerhead flanked by short pinnacles.

The south-west elevation facing Gray's Loan presents 3 bays with a recessed 4th bay. The outer bays are terminated by Dutch gables ending in semi-circular pediments carved with palmette detail. The right gable is set back and adjoined to the curved angle of flat-roofed advanced bays. A single window with dentilled cornice sits at ground floor in the curved return of the central bays, with 2 windows at 1st floor level above a stone balustrade. The central entrance bay is expressed as a red ashlar panel containing a panelled door with adjoining window beneath a cornice with roll-moulded margins. An ashlar mullioned and transomed tripartite window at 1st floor level sits under a lugged segmental pediment, below which is an apron of 3 blank heraldic panels. The left gable contains single windows at ground and 1st floor; the 1st floor window features roll-moulded margins, a cornice, and a carved and dated frieze with a small window in the gablehead above. A single-storey double garage with a stepped parapet stands to the left.

The north-west rear elevation spans 7 bays across 3 storeys. An advanced 3-bay gable projects to the left, flanked by 2-storey bowed corner windows to the right angle block, above which rises a scalloped curved corner. Single windows occupy the outer left bay. The central bay contains a basement door with a window above and an ashlar mullioned tripartite window in the gablehead. The 4-bay block to the right features single windows per bay. A 2-storey garage extension projects to the right, with a single-storey outbuilding in the central bay. 1st floor windows in bays to the left break the eaves in semi-circular pediments. A wallhead stack stands in the bay to the right of centre.

The north-east elevation contains a side entrance with small basement windows. Two single windows occupy ground floor level above, with stone mullioned bipartite and single windows at 1st floor in the centre, and a narrow single window to the right. Two wallhead stacks linked to the roof are connected by a dormer containing 2 windows.

Throughout the building, 12-pane timber sash and case windows are employed. The roof is steeply pitched Scottish slate with red ridge tiles. The building features 4 wallhead and 2 ridge stacks, all corniced. A box dormer sits between the gables of the south-west elevation, with a rooflight to the north-east.

The interiors were not viewed in 1992.

A low rubble boundary wall encloses the property, decorated with cast-iron railings and gates. Two gatepiers with swept copes and ball finials mark the entrance at No. 78; an incomplete pier exists at No. 76.