Esk Tower, Green Lane, Lasswade

Esk Tower is a mid-19th-century house of Italianate Revival character, set on steeply falling ground to the west. It is a symmetrical 2-storey building over basement with a rectangular 3-bay principal plan, extended by a long 2-bay projection to the west that terminates in a 3-light canted bay flanked by an Italianate tower.

The building is constructed in ashlar cream sandstone with polished ashlar dressings. A cill course runs at ground level, consoled canopies flank the ground floor windows, a band course separates the floors, windows have raised margins and chamfered surrounds, and raised channelled quoins articulate the angles. The eaves are finished with a course and cornice.

The principal (eastern) elevation features an advanced pilastered and corniced glazed entrance porch at ground level, spanning a recessed central bay. The timber panelled door is topped with a fanlight and flanked by pilasters; further pairs of flanking pilasters mark the angles of the porch, which is crowned with an entablature and cornice. To the left of the porch is a small circular window at ground; above, a window with narrow flanking windows occupies the first floor. The flanking bays are advanced, with basement windows, tripartite windows at ground level beneath foliate scrolled consoled canopies, and windows at first floor.

The north elevation is irregular, composed of four bays grouped 2-2. The left group is advanced and contains basement, ground and first-floor windows, with a wallhead stack set centrally above. To the right, a 3-light canted bay serves the basement and ground floors with a window at first floor above. The right group of two bays contains tripartite windows at each floor, with a flanking window to the left at first floor, and another tripartite window set to the right serving basement, ground and first floors.

The south elevation is irregular with four bays grouped 3-1. An Italianate tower stands to the outer left with a boarded basement door at its first stage and a round-arched tripartite window at its third stage. A garage projection extends from the south at basement level, with a lean-to addition to ground floor level against the re-entrant angle to the rear. A single bay to the outer right contains a ground-floor window and a gablehead stack set centrally. A 2-bay lean-to addition serves the left return with a part-glazed basement door and ground and first-floor windows. The 3-bay block set back to the left contains irregularly aligned windows at each floor. The rear of the 3-stage tower rises to the outer left.

The western (rear) elevation is 2-storey over basement with 2 bays. The left bay contains a full-height 3-light canted window, with a part-glazed door at basement centre. The right bay comprises a 2-stage square-plan tower over basement. This tower features shouldered mouldings to French windows at ground, a band course above, cornice between the first and second stages, a cill course to the second-stage window, and eaves course and cornice above. Strip quoins mark the angles. The first stage has decorative wrought iron stairs serving French windows; the second stage has round-arched tripartite windows on three sides and is topped with a faceted ogival cupola bearing a weather vane.

The boundary treatment consists of chamfered square-plan gatepiers with cornices and shouldered caps, decorated wrought-iron gates, and a further pair of flanking piers linked with wrought-iron connections. A wrought-iron lamp stand stands to the right-hand pier. Rubble boundary walls are finished with curved ashlar cope.

Esk Tower is an important example of the Italianate Revival in Scotland. It appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1894.