6 Springfield, Dundee

6 Springfield is a group of buildings dating to 1828, with feu deeds from 1830-1831, and construction of numbers 1-6 and 24-32 completed by 1846. The layout was later modified to exclude Springfield House. The complex was finished by 1851. It is a Neo-classical terraced development arranged in a cul-de-sac, rising from the sea with a semi-detached house at the northern end and short terraces facing Perth Road.

The buildings comprise numbers 5-14 and 18-27, which are two-storey and basement houses (some basements have been filled in) arranged in pairs, stepped into the hillside. Each pair features a central tetrastyle Doric portico, with wrought and cast-iron balconies originally above (now largely absent). Windows are set within lugged architraves, corniced at ground floor level, and have 1st floor cill courses. A main cornice and balustrade run along the tops of the terraces. The lower pairs are alternately advanced and recessed, while the upper pairs are generally on the same plane. Most pairs except the recessed ones have pilaster strips defining their northern ends.

Numbers 15 and 16 share a similar style, but are distinguished by a full-length ground floor colonnade. A modern addition is located to the west of number 15. Numbers 17 and 28 are single, three-bay houses with a portico on the left-hand side and are linked to number 16 by a low-height connection.

The facades facing Perth Road consist of numbers 1-4 and 29-32. These are symmetrical, eight-bay structures, with the end bays slightly projected. They share the same style as the rest of the development, with a central tetrastyle portico. Number 1 is angled to accommodate Perth Road and includes a projecting porch on its side. Number 32 has a Doric portico, a cast-iron balcony, and a later hemispherical, pilastered bow rising through both the ground and first floors. Number 3 features a later mullioned design and a restored balustrade.

The corner houses, numbers 4 and 29, have two bays facing Perth Road and three bays facing Springfield. Number 4 exhibits a central portico and a panelled wallhead stack to Springfield, alongside a recently restored balustrade. Number 29 has a portico on its right-hand side, with a wallhead stack that was partly removed to accommodate a later slate mansard roof with consoled dormers.

The windows are predominantly sash and case, with most being later two-pane, although some retain four or twelve panes, and a few are modern. The roofs are low-pitched and slate-covered, with ridge stacks. The rear elevations are constructed of rubble.

Some good, original, plastered Ionic interiors remain. The original iron railings are now missing. Documents from 1830 and 1831 refer to the feuing of the site “according to a much approved plan by an eminent architects in Edinburgh".