Nazareth House, Lasswade

Nazareth House is a mid-19th century villa, likely incorporating earlier fabric, situated in Lasswade. The original building is a two-story, asymmetrical baronial house with four bays, to which modern additions have been made to the southeast and northeast. A prominent feature is the circular, three-stage corner tower on the northwest angle, topped with crowstepped gables and painted stone parapets above a square-plan entrance. The exterior is constructed of squared and snecked cream sandstone ashlar, with stugged and polished dressings. Raised cills are present on both ground and first-floor windows. String courses run along the right side of the main facade and beneath the canted bay above, as well as between the ground and first floors. A coped parapet tops the projecting entrance porch, which features a statue of Jesus flanked by obelisks. The tower has string courses to divide its stages, and a dentilled cornice. Windows have chamfered reveals and long and short surrounds, with long and short quoins defining the entrance porch.

The southwest (principal) elevation features a raised, pilastered, and corniced doorpiece at ground level, leading to a projecting porch within the central bay. The entrance door has been replaced with a part-glazed version, featuring a large rectangular fanlight and windows to each return. Above, a window and a French window are evenly spaced on the first floor. A carved shield plaque is set into the crowstepped gable above the entrance. Two recessed bays to the left contain windows at ground level. The tower has windows on two sides at each stage, with those on the first and second stages being blocked. A square bay to the right has a parapet above; the first floor features a three-light canted window, and a crowstepped gablet sits above.

The southeast elevation presents a three-bay block set back to the right, with a three-light bowed bay on the left. The central bay at ground level contains a window, with a window above on the first floor, and a crowstepped gablet above. Flanking bays feature windows at each floor, topped with gabled dormers and bargeboards. A three-light, full-height projecting bowed bay is located to the left, with a parapet between floors, a crowstepped gable, and a truncated half-conical roof.

The northwest elevation has two bays, with the corner tower to the left. A bipartite window is set within a crowstepped gabled bay to the right of centre on the ground floor, with a window above on the first floor. A pitched addition extends from the ground floor to the left, with a window above on the first floor and a flanking stack.

The building has a mix of four-pane timber sash and case windows, with some replacements made from uPVC. The roof is grey slate, with grey fish scale slates covering the tower, the truncated roof of the canted bay, and the semi-conical roof on the southeast side. Ashlar coped stacks and cast-iron rainwater goods are also present. The interior was not inspected in 1997.