37 Cromwell Road, Burntisland

This is an early 20th-century pair of semi-detached houses with later alterations, located at 39 Cromwell Road, Burntisland. The houses are set on a sloping ground falling to the northwest.

The houses exhibit an eclectic architectural style, featuring a mix of materials and detailing. The exterior is constructed from bull-faced ashlar, harl (rough plaster), and dry-dash rendering, with long and short quoins defining the corners and a partial band course running horizontally. Polished ashlar mullions (vertical bars within windows) have chamfered (angled) edges. A notable feature is the half-timbered, jettied (projecting) first floor, accentuated by decorative glazing and a small balcony. An engaged corner tower adds to the visual interest.

The southeast elevation, which fronts the street, presents a symmetrical facade. The ground floor is ashlar, featuring a panelled front door with a plate glass fanlight (transom window above the door) to the right of centre, and a window to the left. Advanced quadripartite (four-paned) windows are located in the outer bays. The jettied first floor has a small timber balcony across the centre bays, with windows in each bay. Tripartite windows (divided into three panes) with decorative astragals (thin strips of wood or metal separating panes of glass) are positioned within the advanced, gabled bays on the outer right and left. The corner returns also have windows.

The northeast corner tower has a dry-dashed basement that continues up to a corbel (a projecting support) below the painted ashlar (possibly) ground floor, which features four windows. The first floor of the tower is also dry-dashed, with four windows, and a bellcast roof (a roof that curves outwards) topped with a decorative cast-iron finial.

The southwest elevation has a dry-dashed basement to the left of centre, with a modern window in an advanced entrance porch and a further modern window to the right. A piend-roofed (sloping on all four sides) entrance porch, partially glazed and topped with a finial, sits on the ashlar ground floor, with a tripartite window facing forward, a door on the right return, and a bipartite window (divided into two panes) on the left return. The dry-dashed first floor features a corbelled and moulded stack (chimney) piercing the gable in the right bay, flanked by timber detailing at the gablehead.

The northeast elevation incorporates an angled, single-storey and basement wing. It has a door at centre and a window in the return to the right, with another door recessed to the left. The ground floor is characterized by a window in the left bay and an advanced wing to the right, also featuring a return window. The first floor mirrors the detailing on the southwest elevation, with a corbelled and moulded stack piercing the gable and timber detailing at the gablehead.

The northwest elevation has an irregular four-bay arrangement. An advanced bay to the right features a bipartite window, and two windows are recessed in the centre bays, with another advanced bay to the left at basement level. The fenestration (window arrangement) is regular at both ground and first floor levels.

The windows generally feature coloured small-pane upper sashes (upper parts of windows with multiple panes) with radial astragals on the first floor southeast elevation, while mainly 6- and 15-pane upper sashes are found over bipartite or plate glass panels in timber sash and case windows elsewhere. The roof is covered with grey slates. Coped ashlar stacks have moulded cans, while there is barge boarding (overlapping boards covering the ends of rafters) and exposed eaves. Cast-iron and terracotta finials are also present.

The interior of the entrance vestibule at number 39 features decorative cornicing and a part-glazed timber internal door with a small pane fanlight.

Low boundary walls, some with saddleback copings (tops that curve upwards) and others with ashlar and terracotta copings, enclose the property.