5 Polwarth Terrace, Edinburgh

This is a pair of semi-detached villas, dating from around 1875, located on Polwarth Terrace in Edinburgh. They are built in an irregular Gothic style and appear as a single composition from the front.

The front (Northwest) elevation, facing Polwarth Terrace, is five bays wide. The outer bays project as gables, each topped with stone finials. A three-stage entrance tower is located to the left, in the re-entrant angle, featuring a doorway with a triangular, finialled hoodmould and single windows on the return. A two-storey canted window (one central, two side windows) with a half-piend roof is set in the bay to the far left, with an arrowslit window in its gablehead. The centre bays incorporate bipartite windows at ground floor level and single windows above, breaking the eaves within finialled gableheads. Two small, bipartite timber dormers are positioned to the roof. The bay on the right displays an advanced tripartite window at ground floor, a bipartite window on the first floor, and a bull’s-eye window and arrowslit window in its gablehead.

The South-West elevation, facing East Castle Road, is three bays wide. An advanced gabled bay, to the right, features a two-storey canted window (one central, two side windows) with a half-piend roof and an arrowslit in the gablehead; the gable has a stone finial. A gabled stone entrance porch is situated in the central bay, with a pointed-arch doorway, a hoodmould with foliate label stops and a blind roundel in the gablehead. Above the doorway is a bipartite window, and a small, triangular, fully-glazed dormer sits atop the roof. The bay on the left has a bipartite window at ground floor and a single window on the first floor, set within a finialled gabled dormerhead with a blind roundel. A single-storey and attic extension is located to the right, containing a bipartite window at ground floor and a single window above, breaking the eaves in a gabled dormerhead.

The Northeast elevation features single-storey extensions at ground floor, to the left, with a half-piend roof, and a later flat-roofed extension to the right. A single window is present on the first floor of the main block, whilst a bipartite, transomed stair window with thin intersecting astragal bars is located to the left of centre. Two short, shouldered wallhead stacks and a fire escape stair are also present.

The rear (Southeast) elevation consists of gabled bays flanking the centre, each with an apex stack. Rectangular windows are located on the ground and first floors, with pointed-arch windows in the gableheads. A rear wing extends from the left of centre, displaying a blank gable. A variety of dormers are also present.

The building has timber sash and case windows, some with four panes of glass to the rear and in the dormers. The roof is covered in green slate, with lead flashings, coped skews with corbelled skewputts, and moulded eaves gutters and gutterheads.

The interior was not inspected in 1992.

To the front, a low rubble wall with saddleback coping supports ornamental cast-iron gates, gate and fence posts, associated with No. 5.