17 Springfield, Dundee

1-32 Springfield, Dundee, is a group of buildings of group value, constructed between 1828 and 1851, with feuing occurring between 1830 and 1831 and completion by 1846. The layout was later modified to exclude Springfield House. It forms a Neo-classical cul-de-sac stepped up from the sea, culminating in a semi-detached house at the north end and short terraces off Perth Road.

The majority of the buildings, numbers 5-14 and 18-27, are two-storey and basement houses, arranged in pairs and stepped to follow the contours of the land. Each pair features a central tetrastyle Doric portico, originally with wrought and cast-iron balconies above (most of which are now absent). The windows are set within lugged architraves, corniced at ground level, and have 1st-floor cill courses. A main cornice and balustrade run along the top of the terraces. The lower pairs are alternately advanced and recessed, while later upper pairs are aligned on the same plane. Most recessed pairs lack pilaster strips at their north ends.

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

The buildings fronting Perth Road (numbers 1-4 and 29-32) are symmetrical, eight-bay structures with slightly advanced bays at each end. They echo the style of the terraces, incorporating central tetrastyle porticos. Number 1 is angled to accommodate Perth Road, featuring a trabeated porch on its side. Number 32 has a later hemispherical, pilastered bow rising through the ground and first floors. Number 3 has a later altered mullioned balustrade.

The corner houses (numbers 4 and 29) are two bays wide facing Perth Road and three bays wide facing Springfield. Number 4 features a central portico and a panelled wallhead stack on Springfield, with a recently restored balustrade. Number 29 has a portico on the right and a wallhead stack which has been partly removed to accommodate a later slate mansard roof with consoled dormers.

The windows are mostly later two-pane sash and case, with some original four or twelve-pane windows, and some modern replacements. The roofs are low-piended and slate-covered, with ridge stacks. The rear elevations are of rubble construction.

Some good, original plastered Ionic interiors remain. Original iron railings are missing. Historic documents from 1830 and 1831 refer to the scheme being built according to a plan by an "eminent architect in Edinburgh."