Melvin House, 5 Hellihole Road, Stromness

Melvin House, located at 5 Hellihole Road in Stromness, is a house dating from the earlier to mid 19th century, with some later alterations and additions. It is a two-storey, two-bay T-plan structure that is symmetrical in design. The house features a pitched-roofed stair wing at the rear and a lean-to addition on the northeast side, built on ground that rises to the northwest. The exterior is constructed of roughly coursed rubble with harl-pointed finish.

On the southeast, or principal elevation, there is a window on each floor in both bays, with an additional window set high in the lean-to addition on the outer right. The northwest, or rear elevation, has three bays with a lean-to addition on the left side. In the central bay, there is a full-height stair window in a pitched projection. Each bay has a window on both floors, and there is a modern, cement-architraved timber panelled door with a fanlight located close to the re-entrant angle, with a window offset to the left at the first floor on the right return. A stone dog-leg flight leads to a timber panelled door in the recessed lean-to addition on the outer left.

The southwest side elevation is a two-bay gabled elevation, featuring a window in each bay at ground level, with a blocked doorway between them and a gablehead stack above. The windows are 12-pane timber sash and case, with a 20-pane timber sash and case stair light. The roof is covered with grey slate, while the lean-to has Caithness slabs. The skews are made of concrete, and there are stone ridges and corniced rubble gablehead stacks on the southwest and northeast. The property also features cast-iron rainwater goods.

The interior was not seen during the last inspection in 1997. The boundary wall is made of rubble and encloses a rectangular-plan garden to the southeast and a triangular-plan garden to the northwest (rear). In the northwest corner of the rear garden, there is a square-plan lean-to shed with a boarded door on the east side and a window on the south side, topped with a Caithness flagstone roof. Additionally, there is a painted cement tapering octagonal-plan plinth supporting an iron shaft with a red light above, located in the southeast wall.