Stables And Sheds, Liberton Tower Mains, 18 Liberton Brae, Edinburgh

This is an early 19th-century farmhouse situated at the head of a U-shaped steading, located at Liberton Brae in Edinburgh.

The farmhouse itself is a two-storey, three-bay rectangular structure with single-storey pavilion wings projecting to the east and west. The exterior is of coursed rubble grey sandstone with stugged ashlar dressings, featuring a moulded cornice, long and short quoins, and surrounds to the openings. The south (entrance) elevation has a central advanced bay with steps leading to a recessed doorway featuring painted margins, a panelled door with glazed panels, and a small-pane fanlight. Single windows are positioned above the doorway and in recessed panels at ground level on either side. The east and west pavilions have piend-roofed designs, with a single window on the east pavilion and a more modern sun lounge obscuring the west. The north (rear) elevation features a stair window and replacement windows and a door in the east pavilion. A pitched roof addition with a corniced gablehead stack extends from the west pavilion, along with a flat-roofed addition in the re-entrant angle. The south elevation has a pavilion to the left, and a round-arched window is set in the gablehead. The east elevation has two windows at the first floor level and another round-arched window in the gablehead. The windows are 12-pane sash and case. The roof is grey slate with coped skews and corniced gablehead stacks to the east and west, topped with moulded cans.

The steading, located to the north of the farmhouse, includes cattle courts at its centre. The east range is symmetrical with rubble sandstone and droved ashlar dressings, featuring a central cartshed with three segmental arches to the east elevation, four to the north, and a granary above. A single-storey bothy/grieve's house is attached to the north, with a segmental-arched panel now glazed. Implement stores flank the cartshed to the south. The south range features a two-storey former barn to the west and a former kiln to the east. Many ground floor openings have been blocked, with stone ventilators at the first floor, and a kiln vent and box roof ventilators are also present; remnants of implement sheds remain at the rear. The west range originally housed stables with a cobbled area in front, and a small brick stack is visible at the northeast corner. Later, piend-roofed open implement and machinery stores were added, adjoining the west and south ends of the range, though the roof of this structure is now collapsed. A U-plan cattle court lies immediately south of the farmhouse, containing single-storey cattle sheds around a covered courtyard. The slate roofs of these sheds have collapsed, and the courtyard is covered by a timber structure with a corrugated-iron roof.