2, 4 Shiell Street, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

A picturesque villa of irregular plan and mixed heights, combining a single-storey cottage from the early 19th century with later extensions. The original structure was extended to the east in the style of George Mathewson during the earlier 19th century, creating a T-plan marine villa, and further extended westward by James MacLaren in the later 19th century to form a near-symmetrical south elevation. The building is now subdivided.

The exterior is harled with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. Margined angles punctuate the elevations. Most windows are sash and case with original lying-panes, particularly at the canted windows on the south elevation to the east and at the centre-right of the north elevation; elsewhere windows feature 2-pane and plate glass with ashlar margins, mostly painted. Some round-headed gable windows enliven the facades, though out-of-character box dormers with metal-framed windows have been inserted at the south, east, and north elevations. Deep eaves with exposed purlins (boxed in at the east) and pendant details at the south are supported by plain bargeboards. Diamond ridge stacks stand on harled and margined bases, with cans of similar design. Cast-iron rainwater goods complete the external detailing.

The south elevation is particularly elaborate. A former entrance porch at the centre features a round-headed hopper window and square-headed windows on the returns, all set within panels with mock-strapwork brackets to the lintels and supported by single and paired consoles beneath a deep-eaved, shallow-pitched pyramidal lead roof. To the left and right of this centrepiece, windows and doors are arranged in recessed panels. Four dormers punctuate the roofline. At the far right stands an advanced gable with a 4-light canted window (bottom sashes opening as doors), consoles, deep eaves and half-piended leaded roof matching the former entrance porch, with a window at the attic level and a dormer at the left return. At the far left, another advanced gable features a 2-storey tripartite canted window beneath a half-piended lead roof.

The east elevation displays a flat-roofed, timber and glazed linking section at its centre containing ten narrow round-headed windows, now mostly masked by a modern conservatory, with a dormer above. A gable to the right holds a window at ground floor (in a modern, out-of-character frame) and at first floor; a similar gable to the left contains a tripartite window at ground floor and a blocked window above. A recessed bay at the far left has a blocked window. A later brick building at the far right is linked to the house by a close entrance and extends northward.

The west elevation centres on a gable with a later entrance porch at the left, a window at the right and at first-floor level, and a modern window at the left return. A prominent end stack rises through the eaves. A blank bay lies to the right, while a recessed bay at the left features a canted window and a door with fanlight at the right.

The north elevation shows a canted window at the centre, paired windows at the right with a dormer and rooflight above. A gable to the left contains a round-headed, border-glazed stair window. An advanced gable at the far left has a further advanced piended-roof addition, with a door featuring a tripartite fanlight at the right re-entrant angle, two windows at the right return, and a former opening nearby. An advanced gable at the far right displays a canted window at the left, a blocked window at the right, and a small window at the attic level, with a window at the left return.

The interior retains some original joinery and chimneypieces. A well stair features cast-iron balusters. Several rooms exhibit richly decorated cornices and compartmentalised ceilings. The drawing room boasts panelled walls and an exceptionally rich plasterwork cornice with coomb ceiling. The octagonal entrance hall at the east end of the south elevation (6 Shiell Street) is particularly distinctive, featuring an octopartite rib-vaulted ceiling springing from brackets formed by male busts, with Gothic-detailed doorpieces and a niche. The entrance hall at the east elevation (2 Dalhousie Road) displays panelled walls and ceiling.

An associated outbuilding, probably from the earlier 19th century and possibly originally a laundry or servants' quarters, stands nearby. It is a 2-storey, rectangular-plan, 3-bay structure of harled rubble with a slate roof and margined angles. Windows are 12-lying-pane sash and case with painted margins; deep eaves are supported by plain bargeboards. The south elevation shows two windows (masked by a modern conservatory at the centre), a door at the left, a later garage door at the right, and three windows at first-floor level, with a lean-to at the left return gable. The north elevation forms part of the north boundary wall and contains two blocked openings and a diamond stack. The interior has not been inspected.

An octagonal-plan timber game larder with louvered upper sections and a slate roof stands on the property.

Boundary walls of rubble are located at the north and west; at the east end, these are brick-lined and buttressed. The west entrance is marked by two ashlar gatepiers with chamfered arrises and corniced caps (4 Shiell Street), flanked by low ashlar-coped quadrant walls with cast-iron railings extending north to two pyramidal-capped gatepiers (2 Shiell Street).