Balmory, 21 Sherbrooke Avenue, Glasgow

Balmory is a large villa built in 1891 by W J Anderson. It is an asymmetric, two-storey and basement building arranged in an L-shape, exhibiting Renaissance detailing. The exterior is constructed of squared and snecked bull-faced sandstone with red ashlar dressings. The base course is also of squared and snecked bull-faced red sandstone, with cill courses and stone transoms to the windows. Moulded window openings feature, along with a circular, shallow-domed turret to the southwest. There are overhanging eaves and, on the west elevation, a triglyph frieze and a cast-iron weathervane with pierced lettering reading ‘DM 1891’. A recessed, piend-roofed entrance porch with a round arch is located to the right of the west elevation.

The west elevation displays a five-light, balustraded canted bay window at ground level on the left, with a tripartite window above, the central opening of which has been extended to form a door. To the right is a two-bay section and a two-storey turret featuring a five-light window on the ground floor. The windows throughout are predominantly timber sash and case, with some horns, and plate glass is used on the west elevation. The roof is covered in graded grey slates.

The interior is notably well-preserved. Painted glass and leaded panes are present. The drawing room and dining room have upper sashes with leaded panes in an interlace pattern. The drawing room features a classical chimneypiece with a columned overmantle and flanking display cases with glazed, bow-fronted sections with margined panes. There is a Jacobethan ceiling and a stylised flora frieze. The dining room has dado height timber panelling, a timber overmantle which holds an inset canted display cabinet in a large round arched opening. A timber staircase has tall metal lamps at the newel posts. The first-floor billiard room is accessed through a round arched entrance with a timber door and sidelights; the upper parts of the sidelights have leaded panes with painted glass scenes. The billiard room also features an open timber ceiling and a moulded granite chimneypiece. An intact Art Deco bathroom is also on the first floor, with pale green and black tiled walls, a linoleum floor featuring a central Deco motif, etched glass mirrors (one round, one rectangular), and salmon pink bathroom fixtures.

To the west, a stepped squared and snecked bull-faced sandstone boundary wall with flat coping runs along the property. A pair of massive squared and snecked bull-faced gatepiers, with splayed red sandstone to the bottom half and rounded caps inscribed 'BALMORY', mark the southwest corner.