2 Lockharton Gardens, Edinburgh

This is a pair of double villas, built around 1880 by James Gowans and located at 2 Lockharton Gardens, Edinburgh. The buildings are constructed of cream sandstone, with ashlar facing on the front and sides, and coursed rubble on the rear, incorporating ashlar dressings. The architectural style is idiosyncratic, with a strong emphasis on decorative detail.

The front (southwest) elevation presents a four-bay facade, symmetrical about its centre. Each side has a two-storey, tripartite bow window with a pierced ashlar balustrade. Above, a steeply pitched dormer features a tripartite window. Stylised incised petal motifs adorn the gableheads. The entrance doors, recessed within the outer bays, are composed of ten equal panels, topped with a semi-circular fanlight and side lights – later stained glass borders were added to No. 2. Ornamental carved brackets support the cornice, which incorporates a frieze of pen-nib carving rising as a semicircled hood above each door. A single window is located on the first floor, above which sits a dormer.

The southeast elevation features an advanced two-storey bay with a half-piend roof and dormer, boasting three ground-floor windows and a single first-floor window. A narrow, single-storey projection sits in the re-entrant angle, housing a side entrance and four windows beneath the eaves. Above this projection is a bowed ashlar oriel, featuring an indented diamond frieze, a fish-scale half-conical roof, and a stylised elongated pen-nib motif on a corbel. Narrow bipartite stair windows are centrally placed, with the upper window incorporating moulded block capitals. A tripartite window is positioned within the gablehead, again with an indented diamond frieze and cornice.

The northwest elevation mirrors the southeast elevation; a lower, timber lean-to conservatory with cast-iron ornamental brackets surrounds the single-storey projection.

The rear (northeast) elevation is symmetrical, with three bays on each side, demonstrating tripartite windows with narrow outer lights on both the ground and first floors. Dormers are positioned above. Projecting central bays each feature a ground-floor and first-floor tripartite window, flanked by narrow single windows. Ashlar dormers are above, with narrow windows on the returns. Single windows are positioned at ground floor level in the recessed outer bays. Three garages were added to No. 1 in 1954.

The windows are mostly timber sash and case, with plate glass. Some windows retain two-pane upper and lower sashes, especially on the rear and sides. The roof is covered with green slate, with lead flashings. Three grooved ridge stacks, corniced with a dentilled frieze and ornamental serrated cans, rise from the roof. A moulded eaves gutter runs along the building's perimeter.

The interior wasn’t inspected in 1992.

The property is enclosed by a high rubble boundary wall to the northwest, incorporating a gatepier with a large cast-iron sputnik ball finial. A lower wall with saddleback coping edges the southwest and southeast boundaries, accompanied by distinctive cast-iron railings along the southeast side. Pedestrian gatepiers of tapering ashlar, chamfered corners, pyramidal copes, and bands of stylised petal motifs contribute to the overall aesthetic.