16,18 Franklin Road, Stromness

14 and 20 Franklin Road in Stromness are two-storey, six-bay houses built in the later part of the 19th century, with some later alterations. The buildings are arranged in a near-symmetrical rectangular plan, consisting of two pairs of three-bay back-to-back houses, situated on rising ground to the west and south. They are constructed from pointed rubble, and the first-floor windows are positioned close to the eaves.

On the north (principal) elevation, the bays are grouped in threes. The left three-bay group (No 14) features a stone flight leading to a timber panelled door with a large rectangular fanlight in the central bay; above this, there is a non-aligned window on the first floor. The flanking bays each have a window at ground level and another above. The right three-bay group (No 16) has a timber panelled door with a fanlight in the central bay, with a window above it, and each flanking bay also contains a window at both levels.

The south (rear) elevation is similarly arranged in six bays, grouped three and three. It includes a bridging stair leading to a timber door with a fanlight at the first-floor level in the central bay, a window below the stair, and windows in each bay flanking the central section.

The west (side) elevation features a single bay gabled wall that is canted to the right, with a window set to the left at ground level and a gablehead stack above. The east (side) elevation also has a single bay gabled wall, with a window at each floor to the right and a gablehead stack above.

The windows are 4-pane timber sash and case. The roof is covered with purple Welsh slate, featuring a stone ridge, two evenly spaced rooflights on the south pitch, cement skews, and multi-flue rubble coped gablehead and ridge stacks. The rainwater goods are made of uPVC.

The interior was not seen as of 1997.

The property includes boundary walls, railings, and an outbuilding. There is a low rubble wall at the rear (south) topped with a ridged ashlar cope and wrought-iron railings. Modern railings flank the bridging stairs to the rear. There is also a rubble wall with a square-plan corniced terminating pier to the east and a pitched L-plan rubble outbuilding at the southeast angle, which has a purple Welsh slate roof, stone ridge, concrete skews, and a rubble corniced gablehead stack to the east.