53 Fountainhall Road, Edinburgh

This building, located at 53 Fountainhall Road in Edinburgh, dates from around 1878 and is a 22-storey, 3-bay rectangular-plan villa designed in a French style. It features an entrance tower and service wings attached to the west and east elevations. The structure is constructed from squared and snecked rubble, with coursed stugged ashlar and polished dressings on the north (entrance) elevation. Notable architectural elements include a base course, cornice, quoin strips, and basket-arched windows on the first floor and entrance.

On the north (entrance) elevation, there is a central advanced entrance bay that forms a tower breaking the eaves. It has a segmental-arched doorpiece with an architrave, carved consoles, and a heavy segmental-arched pediment. Above the entrance, there is a single window with margin glazing on the first floor. The towerhead, which also breaks the eaves, features a French roof, although the brattishing is missing. The cornice has a corniced balustrade, and the corner dies are topped with stone urns. The north and west faces of the tower have single windows with segmental-arched heads. To the outer right, there is an advanced corniced tripartite window in the ground floor bay and a pipartite window on the first floor. The outer left features a small single window and an advanced bipartite window at ground level, along with a single window on the first floor. There is also a single window in the service wing attached to the outer right.

The service wing is a single storey with an attic and has a secondary entrance and a single window at ground level on the north side, along with a window breaking the eaves in a pedimented dormer above. There is also a single window on the first floor facing west.

The west elevation features a piend-roofed service wing with a window on the first floor. The building has plate glass sash and case windows, although some have been replaced with uPVC. The roof is covered with grey slate and has lead flashing, moulded eaves guttering, and three shouldered and corniced wallhead stacks on the main house, as well as a 19th-century dormer on the west side.

The interiors were not seen in 1990. Surrounding the property are low coped boundary walls that rise to the east and west, along with a pair of ashlar gatepiers that feature cornices and pyramidal caps.