Beachtower, 4 Ralston Road, West Ferry, Dundee

Beachtower, located at 4 Ralston Road in West Ferry, Dundee, is an Italianate villa designed by John Murray Robertson in 1875. This two-storey building features a tower with an attic and has an irregular plan. The exterior is made of shuttered concrete with a grey slate roof. Notable architectural details include a base course, a continuous cill course, and a hoodmould at the first floor, along with some diaper work friezes. The windows are plate glass sash and case, with moulded architraves on the ground floor. The eaves are bracketted, and the gables have exposed roof collars. The flat-roofed tower is topped with a balustraded parapet, and there are moulded stacks and decorative cast-iron rainwater goods.

On the west elevation, the building has four bays, featuring an entrance tower with an open pilastered porch at the ground floor, single windows at the first floor, and paired windows at the second floor with incised angle capitals. The left gabled bay has two windows at the ground floor and three at the first floor. A lower two-storey bay on the far left has been regrettably modernised and extended, while a recessed bay on the far right contains windows on both the ground and first floors.

The south elevation has three bays, with French doors and integral windows at the ground floor centre, and a tripartite window at the first floor. There is a full-height, five-light canted window with a piended roof at the far right and a projecting gable at the far left with a full-height rectangular four-light window and side lights.

The east elevation features three windows at the ground floor, with a former window converted into a door, and four windows at the first floor. There is a gablehead on the left and a slightly advanced lower gable on the far right with paired windows at both the ground and first floors.

The north elevation has three bays, with the outer bays being lower and advanced, but it has been plain and considerably altered.

Inside, the main staircase has been removed, although some original chimneypieces remain.

The property is also marked by gatepiers and a boundary wall, which consist of two pyramidal capped gatepiers with a geometric frieze, quadrants, and similar piers flanking the entrance. These are accompanied by a coped wall along Ralston Road, all constructed from shuttered concrete.