Viewforth, 79 Hope Street, Inverkeithing

Viewforth is a villa dating from around 1870-1875, designed by F T Pilkington & J Murray Bell. It is a roughly square building of one-and-a-half storeys, set within three bays. The north, east, and south faces are constructed with snecked dressed whinstone; the west (rear) face is rubble stone. Raised smooth ashlar quoins, a base course, and a carved eaves course add further detail. Decorative carved stone dressings are present throughout, including column mullions with carved foliate capitals, carved dormers, and chimneystacks. Decorative ironwork is also a key feature.

The principal, east-facing elevation showcases a central stone porch with plain, shafted, engaged columns supporting foliate capitals, and a truncated pitched roof extending over a round-arched entrance. Wrought-iron cresting adorns the porch, above double timber panelled doors and a round-arched fanlight. A small half-moon rooflight is situated above the fanlight. To the right is a slightly advanced gabled bay featuring a canted tripartite ground floor window with round arched openings within canted architraves, similar engaged columns, a moulded and carved parapet with wrought-iron cresting, and a canted window in the gablehead. A wrought-iron finial sits at the gable apex. A two-light box window is to the left of the porch, mirroring the detailing on the right, with narrow side-lights. A truncated pitched dormer, featuring slate cheeks and a wrought-iron finial, is also present.

On the north elevation are two round-arched ground floor windows, framed by chamfered architraves, and two truncated pitched dormers with slate cheeks and wrought-iron finials. The south (rear) elevation includes a small, piended timber porch connected to a rectangular, full-height stair tower featuring a round-arched window with etched glass. A single-storey, piended lavatory, coal shed, and wash house are positioned to the left, alongside a one-and-a-half storey piended kitchen wing incorporating an early 20th century box dormer. The west elevation presents a central ground floor window onto the kitchen wing and a small round-arched dormer. A corbelled-out section adjoining the kitchen wing to the east houses an internal flue.

Predominantly four-pane timber sash and case windows are used throughout. The roof is pitched and piended, covered with purple and grey slates. Original cast-iron gutters, with decorative embossed heads at regular intervals, are found on the rear elevation. Coped and carved gablehead and ridge stacks, straight ashlar skews, and Gothic ‘cap-house’ skewputts all contribute to the building’s appearance.

The interior features a margin-paned glazed door leading to a vestibule with a secondary round-arched fanlight. The hall has a deep dentilled cornice with plaster putti brackets and a dogleg stair with a mahogany handrail and substantial, pierced cast-iron balusters. The dining room features a black stone pilastered chimneypiece with a later Art Nouveau tiled fire surround and blue tiled hearth. The drawing room's chimneypiece is constructed of grey veined, white marble with a plain tiled fire surround and brass hood. Both rooms have deep cornices incorporating anthemion, palmette, and dog tooth motifs and intricate ceiling roses, along with working shutters. The scullery retains its original function. The upper floor retains its original layout alongside the later addition of a bathroom.