34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace, Edinburgh

34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace, Edinburgh

This is a large two-storey villa in the Scots Renaissance style with Arts and Crafts detailing, built in 1899 to the designs of architect Henry Francis Kerr for Robert Alexander Douglas, a partner in the Edinburgh ironmongery firm James Gray's and Sons and later a Councillor for the Calton Ward. The house is constructed in coursed rubble with smoothed, blond sandstone dressings including long and short quoins and window margins. It has a roughly L-plan layout and crowstepped principal gables, tall tapered chimneystacks, and some windows with chamfered stone transoms and mullions. The roof is slate with cast iron rainwater goods and zinc ridges. The windows are timber sash and case, mostly six- or nine-pane over plate glass. The entrance door for 34 is boarded timber.

The asymmetrical principal elevation to the north features a prominent circular entrance tower set in the re-entrant angle. The tower is decorated with an intricate stone swagged motif just below the eaves course and is topped by a conical slate roof. The elaborate stone doorpiece has shouldered mouldings and an entablature carved with the initials 'RAD' and 'ME' and the date '1899' flanking a stylised thistle; above is a triangular pediment with a decorative wrought iron lamp bracket. To the right of the entrance tower stands a large advanced crowstepped gable with a ground floor bay window topped by a stone balustrade. A Venetian window at first floor level features a blind central arch and hoodmould. To the left of the entrance tower is another Venetian window at ground floor level, similarly detailed with a blind central arch and hoodmould.

The east elevation is gabled and features a four-light first floor window with a stone mullion and transom. Over the window is a blind arch with an oculus window breaking the apex. Another oculus window appears at ground floor level to the right. Adjoining the outer left is a single storey and attic rectangular-plan service wing with low roof eaves and a steeply pitched roof. A glazed and timber lean-to and a timber garage are attached to its east side.

The west elevation has an advanced gabled bay to the left with corbelled corners to the first floor, topped on the apex by a tall chimneystack. To the right of this gabled bay is an entrance added in the mid-20th century when the property was subdivided. Above this entrance is a nine-light stair window.

The south-facing garden elevation is asymmetrical with a full-height canted bay positioned off-centre to the right.

The ground floor interior features Jacobean-style timber panelling to the window surrounds and fireplaces in the principal rooms, and decorative architraves to the arched openings in the entrance hall and drawing room. The main staircase survives, providing access to both flats following the subdivision around 1945.

The boundary features consist of low stone walls with sandstone copes along Inverleith Terrace. To the left is a carriage and pedestrian gateway with three squat square gateposts, each topped by an ornate foliate wrought-iron box gatepost, possibly the work of Thomas Hadden. To the right is a later gateway with later twentieth-century gates. Both gates and boundary walls retain their original ironwork, possibly by Thomas Hadden.

The south-facing rear garden is terraced with a brick retaining wall and stone steps leading down to a lower level lawn. A stone wall runs along the south boundary of the plot.

The house sits in a suburban residential area of Edinburgh on a road between the Royal Botanic Garden and the Water of Leith. It was first shown on the Ordnance Survey map in 1908 (surveyed 1905). Around 1911, Douglas moved to Wester Coates Road and the house was subsequently occupied by Rev John Martin of the United Free Church. By 1919 the architect James Walker Todd was resident; he remained there until his death in 1944. Walker Todd's son was the poet and author Ruthven Todd. A timber garage was added before 1931. Around 1945, following Walker Todd's death, the house was subdivided into two flats at ground and first floor levels by the architectural firm Dick Peddie McKay and Jamieson (formerly Todd's practice). The subdivision involved minimal changes to the internal layout. There have been no significant additions or alterations to the exterior since this subdivision. The single storey outbuildings to the east of the house are excluded from the listing in accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.