Lansdowne Lodge, St George's School For Girls, Coltbridge Terrace, Edinburgh

St George’s School For Girls is a large, asymmetrical, Jacobethan villa dated 1875 and designed by T B McFadzen. Built on a square plan, the building is of two storeys and five bays, with prominent ogee gables and a square tower to the rear. The exterior is constructed from regularly coursed, tooled yellow sandstone with ashlar margins. Features include blocked quoins, a base course, a projecting cornice between the first and second storeys, an eaves course, and a projecting cornice. Most windows are tall, stone-mullioned and -transomed.

The main northeast elevation comprises five bays, with an advanced porch centrally located on the left side. The original entrance, now blocked, was a glazed doorway flanked by pilasters on pedestals, paired acanthus carved consoles supporting a projecting cornice and parapet, topped with a keystone. A later entrance has been added to the right return. A bowed projecting bay on the second storey is flanked by blocked quoins and a blocked parapet, while the flanking bays contain a mix of tripartite, bipartite, and single-light windows.

The southwest rear elevation features four bays, with a gabled bay on the right-hand side, and a pair of glazed doors in the centre. A two-storey, three-bay wing is advanced to the outer left, featuring ball finials on the dormer heads. An engaged, three-stage, square-plan tower with a parapet is present on the return. A single-storey, three-bay range abuts the gable end, with an engaged octagonal, two-stage tower on the south corner. A modern addition is attached to the gable end.

The southeast side elevation has four bays, with advanced two-storey, four-light windows set within gabled outer bays. A canted bay is on the outer left, and a rectangular bay is on the outer right. A mix of bipartite and tripartite windows are found in the centre bays. The northwest side elevation includes the rear of the south wing, a tower centrally located, a two-storey gabled bay immediately to the left of the tower, a two-storey, three-bay modern addition to the left, and a two-storey gable end at the outer left.

Internally, the hallway features a coffered timber ceiling. The balustrade is ornately carved with foliage and pierced details, and the newel posts support converted gas lamps. A coffered, fluted timber column arcading forms part of the landing balcony. Timber panelling to the ceiling of the former dining room is located to the left of the entrance, while timber gothic arcading creates a recessed, mirror-backed buffet to the rear. Classical motifs are present in the heavy plasterwork cornices and timber-panelled walls of rooms to the rear. The windows are predominantly timber sash and case with plate glass. The roof is covered with grey slates with lead flashings, and the building has moulded cast-iron rainwater goods. Tall, decoratively coped octagonal chimney stalks are also present.

A single-storey, two-bay, rectangular-plan gate lodge stands nearby, with an advanced gabled bay to the right and an advanced canted bay with a crenellated parapet and barge-boarding to the overhanging eaves. The lodge is built of regularly coursed, tooled yellow sandstone with timber sash and case windows and grey slate roofing with lead flashings. The gatepiers are high and square-plan with plain pulvinated caps, made of random rubble, and are set within a coped boundary wall.