Redford House, Redford Road, Edinburgh

Redford House, Redford Road, Edinburgh

Probably dating from circa 1712 with numerous later additions and possibly incorporating later 17th century fabric. The building was converted into three separate houses circa 1952.

The main structure is a predominantly two-storey, roughly symmetrical U-plan house with single-storey wings forming a forecourt to the north-west. A later 18th-century central octagonal three-storey entrance tower marks the principal elevation, though this is somewhat compromised by a clumsy Victorian porch. A long, irregularly fenestrated range extends to the south, composed of several blocks of different dates with later swept dormers flanking the centre and some gable-head stacks. The building is finished in white-painted harling with white-painted sandstone cills and is very plain with almost no decorative details.

The north-west (entrance) elevation features a semi-octagonal entrance tower with regular fenestration; an advanced Victorian porch at ground level; and a modern two-leaf timber-panelled front door with diamond-glazed fanlight and raised parapet above. Flanking windows sit within recessed bays with slightly advanced gables; these contain stone-mullioned bipartite windows at ground and first-floor levels, with double-arched recesses and cills rising to the gable apex. Gable-head stacks are present. Irregularly fenestrated bays extend to left and right, with long single-storey wings outshot to the outer left and right. These outshot wings have north-west gables with irregular fenestration, including blind windows and gable-head stacks. The forecourt area shows irregular fenestration overall; the left-hand wing includes a circa 1910 eight-light canted bay.

The north-east elevation (number 133) has a circa 1950 porch advanced to the centre with a half-glazed timber-panelled door and three windows. An advanced piend-roofed bay to the outer left contains a single window.

The south-east (garden) elevation presents a long irregular range stepped back at the east (right) end. An advanced piend-roofed bay at the centre projects from an earlier gabled bay with a gable-head stack and single window at ground level. The upper floor is slightly jettied out with a tripartite window. Tall, narrow swept-roof dormers flank the centre, with large swept-roof canted dormers to right and left; the dormer to the left is corbelled out at first-floor level, while the dormer to the right sits above an advanced bipartite bay. A circa 1890 bay to the outer left features a nepus gable. Three bays are recessed to the outer right; the central of these, dating from circa 1910, has an arched loggia at ground level and a pavilion roof.

The south-west elevation (number 137) shows a long irregularly fenestrated range with a thistle-finial-topped gable to the outer right; a tripartite window to the gable has a taller central light. The penultimate bay to the right is a former dovecot. A 1950s porch at ground level has a glazed door. A tripartite window appears to the outer left.

Throughout the building, fenestration predominantly consists of small-pane glazing in timber sash-and-case windows. Coped stacks feature some decorative clay cans, and painted ashlar-coped skews rise to graded grey slate roofing.

Interior features vary by section. Number 133 (east wing) contains a circa 1910 drawing room with Arts and Crafts style carved timber chimney piece and a coved ceiling with Lorimer-style plasterwork forming bands across the ceiling.

Number 135 (main house) features a staircase dating from circa 1820 in the entrance hall, with cast-iron balusters cast with anthemium motifs and a mahogany hand rail; identical balusters occur on the back stair. The drawing room has a compartmental plaster ceiling and a large fireplace with stone inset and possibly later surround. A bedroom displays decorative panelling and compartmental ceilings with a timber chimney piece. Fireplaces appear in most other bedrooms. Timber-panelled interior doors throughout feature brass door furniture.

Number 137 (west wing) retains a former dovecot in the attic with some surviving nesting boxes.

Associated with the main house is a small sandstone rubble bleaching house with grey slate roof, located to the south-east beside a burn.

A U-plan group of outbuildings stands to the north-east of the house, comprising a gabled former coach house to the left; a piend-roofed, irregularly fenestrated former potting shed or other outbuilding; and a lean-to former boiler-house with a half-glazed door breaking the eaves, a window, and a chimney stack in a brick garden wall behind. These outbuildings have rendered walls and pantiled roofs with slate easing course and ashlar-coped skews.

An ashlar-coped random rubble boundary wall encloses the north-east of the garden, with a gateway at its north end.