Red House, 1 and 1A Cluny Gardens, Edinburgh

Red House is a large, two-storey and attic Queen Anne subdivided villa, with a rear wing that steps down to a single storey, built in 1884 by John Kinross, of Seymour and Kinross. The building is located at 1 and 1A Cluny Gardens, Edinburgh, and is constructed of red sandstone, with squared and snecked rubble and ashlar dressings. The architectural style features ovolo-moulded reveals, ashlar mullions, overhanging eaves with brackets, and corniced apex stacks with a pulvinated frieze and skewline incorporated into the stack.

The west (entrance, side) elevation has a gabled main block to the right. The entrance door is positioned off-centre to the left and features a lugged architrave, wide frieze, architraved fanlight with leaded panes, and flanking panelled pilasters. A dentilled cornice sits above the door. A small bipartite stair window is positioned above the entrance, flanked by a tall round-arched window with a semi-circular balcony and decorative wrought-iron railings, and narrow corniced windows. A stack is located at the apex of the gable. The rear wing features a corniced bipartite window at ground floor, a panelled secondary door flanked by small rectangular windows under a cornice, and two keystoned bull’s-eye windows under the eaves of the first floor.

The south (Cluny Gardens, principal) elevation is three-bay wide; the central ground floor bay has a single window. Above that is a small bipartite window under the eaves of the first floor. The outer bays have canted ashlar windows at ground floor with a panelled frieze and panelled parapet with a diamond pattern. Tall, first-floor bipartite windows break the eaves with panelled pilasters, a decorative frieze, and consoled pedimented dormerheads. A modern, detached double garage, built in matching stone, is located to the right.

The east elevation has a gabled main block with an apex stack, two single windows at ground floor to the right; a bipartite and single window at the first floor with relieving arches, and two small rectangular windows with flat ogee heads in the gablehead. The rear wing features two bipartite windows at ground floor, a tall pedimented bipartite window breaking the eaves at first floor to the left, and a narrow balcony with a plain iron railing.

The north (rear) elevation shows the return of the main block with a corniced window at ground floor, a single window above, and a tall stair window to the left, divided by timber panelling, with a timber box dormer containing a quadripartite window in the roof space. The rear of the single-storey wing presents a bipartite window at ground floor, with a small bipartite dormer in the quasi-gambrel roof, surmounted by an apex stack for the two-storey wing.

The building has small-pane timber sash and case windows, a red tiled roof, red ridge tiles, and three apex stacks. Coped skews have gablet skewputts. The interior details exhibit Queen Anne features, including a recurring diamond motif and round arches to passages, with an attic billiard room.

The property is enclosed by a high rubble boundary wall with semi-circular coping to the rear and sides and a low rubble wall with saddleback coping to the entrance and south elevation. Decorative cast-iron gates and railings complete the boundary.