Balmadies, 65 Spylaw Bank Road, Edinburgh

Balmadies is a substantial 2-storey house with attic, designed by Sir Matthew M Ochterlony in 1914 with significant additions and alterations by Hippolyte J Blanc (1924) and further work by Ochterlony (1925-6 and 1934). The house displays Scots Renaissance detailing and follows a butterfly plan.

The principal north elevation is dominated by a round entrance turret with a conical roof positioned at a salient angle, topped with a ball finial and ship weather vane. Above the entrance, which comprises a 2-leaf timber panelled door with glazed top panels set in a projecting sandstone architrave, is a finialled pedimented dormer. The lintel of the door is inscribed "PAX INTRANTI SALIS EXEUNT" and the dormer above bears the inscription "DEUS NAVEM CUBERANT". A tall window to the left of the door has a stone tablet above it with a wreath encircling a coat of arms and the date 1914 at the corners, with a pediment-inscribed dormer above it marked "NMH" and another to its left marked "FEM". To the right of the tower, a 1925-6 addition features an asymmetric sloping gable with decorative window surrounds. At ground level, an advanced single-storey section projects with a balustraded flat roof and a timber boarded door (probably added in 1934) facing northwest. This section has a tripartite window at ground with an open segmental pediment and a single window above to the centre with a stone apron inscribed "BLISIT BE GOD FOR AL HIS GIFTIS 1925". A 2-bay section to the left of the tower includes a service wing facing northeast, with a circa 1934 single-storey section to the outer left joined to a garage by an archway. The left return through the arch contains a timber boarded back door in a roll-moulded ashlar architrave dated 1934.

The east elevation displays fairly regular fenestration across a 2-bay section, with a flat-roofed single-storey wing advanced to the northeast corner.

The south or garden elevation is composed of 3 sections arranged at angles to form a wide U-shape. The central section features 2 bays with a central glazed door and flanking windows at ground level, with 2 windows above. A single-bay gabled section projects to the right. To the left, a 2-bay section contains flat-roofed dormers to the attic, with the outer left bay's first floor and attic added in 1924. A bowed conservatory occupies the ground level to the centre.

The west elevation shows a gable to the right (its first floor rebuilt in 1924) with a wallhead stack, and a 2-window arrangement at ground level with a further window at first floor to the right. The 1925 2-bay section to the left features a tall window at ground level to the right and 2 pedimented dormers above with sun and moon finials.

The walls are rendered in pink-painted harl with raised sandstone ashlar window margins and an eaves course. Windows are predominantly 9-pane timber sash and case. The roof is covered with graded green and grey slate with grey ridge tiles. Corniced stacks with short yellow clay cans and cast-iron rainwater goods complete the external detailing.

The interior includes a red sandstone chimneypiece in the hall with a lintel inscribed "O YE FIRE AND HEAT PRAISE THE LORD" and a Holyrood stag in shield to the centre. The staircase was rebuilt following a mid-20th-century fire. An octagonal panelled room, formerly the dining room, features cupboards within its panelling and a timber chimneypiece with later marble inset and grate. The former library in the 1925 wing displays timber panelling to the dado and a carved timber chimneypiece with green glazed brick inset and decorative brass-edged grate, with very elaborate vine-motif plasterwork to the ceiling centre. A former butler's pantry contains a fitted china cupboard with glazed upper shelves and drawers below. Several bedrooms include fireplaces, and a small service lift accesses the upstairs corridor. Timber panelled doors feature throughout.

The boundary features include a random rubble boundary wall with cylindrical gatepiers inscribed "BALMADIES" in cement, and a very high coped boundary wall to Lanark Road. Adjacent to the house stands a 1924 Motor House, harled with polished sandstone ashlar dressings. An early 20th-century greenhouse with harled base and a harled boiler room or potting shed behind (with slate roof) complete the associated structures.