Hillwood, 12 Lasswade Road, Loanhead

Hillwood, located at 12 Lasswade Road in Loanhead, is a house built around 1865 and extended around 1914. It features a single and two-storey irregular plan with bowed end walls. The exterior is harled and painted, with plain margins, a polished ashlar base, a band course, and ashlar rybats. The eaves are overhanging.

On the east (principal) elevation, there is an arched doorway located off-centre to the right, which has half-glazed storm doors and a semi-circular glazed fanlight above. An advanced bay contains a central 4-pane window, with flanking French windows to the left. To the right, there is another advanced 4-light bay with a 4-pane window, and a small 4-pane window further to the right.

The south elevation features a central two-storey bay with a French door to the left, paired 4-pane windows on the ground floor, and a tetrapartite bay window on the first floor topped with a semi-conical roof. To the outer left is a gabled bay with a tripartite window on the ground floor, a band course, and a tetrapartite window on the first floor, along with plain bargeboards. The outer right bay has a lean-to timber conservatory with a central window and flanking door, along with enclosed returns and a piended dormer above.

The north and west elevations present an irregular mixture of gables and bows that house the kitchen, pantry, and other spaces. The house features a variety of window styles, including hinged timber casement windows, 4-pane and 6-pane sash and case windows, French doors, and roof-lights. The roof is covered in dark grey slate with piended and semi-conical sections.

Inside, original features remain, such as a tiled mosaic floor, oak parquet floors, wood and carved stone fire-surrounds, ornate cornices, walnut and rosewood doors, slate shelving in the larder, stone bins in the wine cellar, and coomb ceilings on the upper floor. The billiard room, added in 1917, has a large rectangular gallery, a corner open fireplace, a coombed ceiling, and a large 16-pane glazed roof light.

Additionally, there is a timber summerhouse built in 1917, which was formerly the painting studio of Sir William MacTaggart. This rectangular timber studio includes a verandah and a panelled interior. A rectangular timber greenhouse, or glasshouse, is also present, featuring an integral rainwater tank that houses a 100-year-old vine.