Kilmeny And Gardener's Cottage, 2 Ettrick Road, Edinburgh

Kilmeny and Gardener's Cottage

This large villa, dating to circa 1875, stands as an impressive example of Scottish Baronial architecture on Ettrick Road, Edinburgh. The main building is a 2-storey structure with attic accommodation, organised on an irregular plan and distinguished by a 3-stage tower and mixed Baronial detailing. Associated with it are a garage and gardener's cottage, which together with the main house form a substantial domestic complex.

The building is constructed in cream sandstone, with the front and tower finished in stugged ashlar, while the rear and side elevations display squared and snecked rubble with stugged dressings. A base course runs the full perimeter. The most distinctive feature is the stepped corbel table that rises above the first-floor windows, a detail repeated in other locations across the elevations. Chamfered reveals, crowstepped gables, and ashlar mullions are consistent throughout. The roof is slate, with lead flashings, and is punctuated by eight corniced apex stacks, some with octagonal cans, corbelled skewputts, and moulded eaves gutters with ornamental heads and brackets.

The north-east front elevation presents a 3-bay composition with a 3-stage engaged round tower to the right. The central entrance bay is the architectural focal point, featuring a round-arched keystoned doorpiece flanked by pedestals bearing urns, with fluted pilasters and a diamond pattern to the frieze above. A cornice with parapet bearing a tablet crowns this feature. Above sits a bipartite window at first-floor level, with a timber dormer to the roof containing a round-arched window and a timber thistle finial to the gablehead. To the left, a gabled bay contains a 2-storey canted window with a 1-2-1 arrangement and crenellated parapet, a single window in the gablehead, and a thistle finial. To the right of the entrance, a rectangular projection rises through two storeys with a tripartite window at ground level and a further tripartite window at first floor, both featuring stop-chamfered arrises and crenellated parapets. This section includes a timber dormer with a round-arched window and thistle finial. The engaged tower to the outer right has a battered base, single windows at the first and second stages, and four narrow segmental-arched windows at the top stage, crowned by a heavy corbelled eaves cornice. A curved link connects the tower to the main roof on its left side, punctuated by a single segmental-arched window and crenellated parapet.

The south-west rear elevation comprises 3 bays with a single-storey gabled kitchen wing projecting at right angles to the left. The gabled bay to the right contains a lean-to conservatory at ground level and a bipartite window at first floor, with a single window in the gablehead. The central bay has a secondary floor flanked by a small window and a tall transomed Venetian stair window. The left bay contains single windows and a canted dormer with a half-piend roof. The kitchen wing was heightened in 1928 and displays single and bipartite windows in its gable wall, with a small window in the gablehead.

The south-east elevation is M-gabled with apex stacks. A single-storey lean-to timber conservatory extends across the full width at ground level, with a central window at first-floor level and a stepped corbel course rising to semi-circular pediments under the gables.

The north-west elevation is also M-gabled with apex stacks and has an engaged tower on the outer left pitch. A single-storey projecting kitchen wing spans the ground floor with a central gable, single windows, and two secondary doors, plus a single window in the gablehead. The main elevation above displays a central window at first-floor level.

Windows throughout are timber sash and case, mostly with plate glass glazing, though some retain 4-pane and multi-pane sashes.

The garage and gardener's cottage are constructed in matching materials with crowstepped gables and apex stacks, arranged to form a courtyard to the north-west. The gardener's cottage is a single-storey gabled structure of 3 bays with single windows flanking a chamfered doorway facing the courtyard. The garage is also single-storey, with large timber doors to the drive and a chamfered doorway under a central gable with a single window facing the courtyard.

The interior has been partially altered, particularly in the vestibule and hall, though some original fireplaces with carved timber surrounds and cornices survive.

The boundary wall comprises tall rubble construction with semi-circular coping to the rear, sides, and part of the front, with a lower wall to the front. Square ashlar coped gatepiers (relocated in 1928) support plain cast-iron railings and both pedestrian and carriage gates.