57 Fountainhall Road, Edinburgh

57 Fountainhall Road is a villa built in 1881 by John McLachlan. It is a two-storey, three-bay rectangular-plan building with an adjoining service wing to the east. The exterior is constructed from squared and snecked rubble, featuring lightly stugged ashlar with polished dressings on the north (entrance) elevation. The design includes base and dividing band courses, a cornice, and chamfered reveals.

On the north elevation, there is a central doorpiece with a keystoned round arch, flanked by pilasters and adorned with carved consoles, a cornice, and a blinded balustrade that acts as a mock balcony for the first-floor window, which has a raised lugged surround. The entrance features two-leaf panelled doors and a plate glass fanlight. To the outer right, there is a canted four-light window at the ground floor, with an ashlar coping above the cornice that sweeps down to a smaller canted window at the first floor, which has four segmental-arched lights. The outer left side has an advanced corniced tripartite window at the ground floor and a bipartite segmental-arched window at the first floor, which has scrolled detail at its base. The single-storey service wing attached to the east has a piended roof, a bipartite window at the ground floor, and a bipartite round-arched dormer with a segmental-arched pediment above.

The east elevation of the service wing includes a secondary entrance and single windows at the ground floor, with a window breaking the eaves and a segmental-arched pediment above. The first floor of the main house features a tripartite pedimented stair window. On the west elevation, there are single windows at the ground floor to the outer left and at the first floor to the outer right. The south elevation has a full-height canted window to the outer left and single windows in the remaining bays, with the service wing adjoining to the outer right.

The villa has plate glass sash and case windows, a grey slate piended roof with lead flashing, four shouldered and corniced moulded stacks, moulded octagonal cans, an iron finial, and moulded eaves guttering.

The interior was not seen in 1990. The property is enclosed by low saddleback boundary walls that rise to the east and west, with a pair of coped ashlar gatepiers featuring chamfered angles. There is also a flat-roofed rendered double garage to the east.