Description

John Kinross of Kinross and Tarbolton, 1898. 2-storey, basement and attic, Scottish 17th century villa, sited on corner site on steeply falling ground, with 1st floor breaking eaves in gabled dormerheads and with single storey steeply pitched service block to NW. Rake-jointed rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings. Roll-moulded surrounds to windows, stop-chamfered at cills, generously porportioned at ground and to S elevation. Principal gables crowstepped with beak skewputts. E OSWALD elevation: recessed gabled bay to outer left, 2 bays to centre and to right. Window at ground at centre with pediment and finial. Doorway on half-gabled return to left deorative panel (vase of flowers) carved above; 2-leaf boarded doors; single window at 1st floor above with wreath carving above. Fine cast-iron lamp bracket to left of door. Full-height canted window to outer right bay corbelled to square at 1st floor with 1 window in gablhead.

N MORTONHALL ROAD elevation: 3-bay. Lop-sided gable to left with 1st floor window crowned by trapezoid pediment bearing monogram "JB". 2 lower bays to right with windows at ground and ashlar gabled dormers breaking eaves above. Low single storey bay of service block to outer right with ashlar mullioned bipartite window under eaves.

S ELEVATION: 2-bay with recessed door bay to outer right (see above) and recessed service block to outer left. Full-height canted window in bay to left, corbelled to square at 1st floor with pilaster-flanked window in gablehead with wreath carved above. Window to each floor in flanking bay to right.

W ELEVATION: M-gabled with left gable slightly advanced and overlapping that to right and with lop-sided gable of service block advanced at ground, bipartite window and ground floor window on chamfered angle to centre at 1st floor. Basement door to outer angle and 1st floor pedimented window to right of centre. Small-pane and multi-pane glazing patterns in generous sash and case windows. Westmoreland slates; ashlar ridge tiles. Moulded coping to gablehead and wallhead stacks. Discreet gabled timber dormers with barge boards to W, S and E pitches.

INTERIOR: fine original deoration retained, joinery work by Scott Morton and Co, cabinetmakers; inlaid vestibule and hall floors; decorative plasterwork cornices and ceiling details, particular use of thistle motif; built-in cupboards and display cabinets; well-crafted oak dressers to pantry and scullery fittings; substantial corner corbels to bedroom ceilings; archway to attic landing; decorative plasterwork recesses to saucer skylights; coved ceiling to attic billiard room with ashlar moulded chimneypiece inscribed "East or West Home is Best" with cartouche carved at centre, plasterwork overmantel rising into corbelled plaster canopy. BOUNDARY WALLS STEPS AND GATES: saddleback ashlar coping to coursed sandstone rubble boundary walls, 16" in diameter; ashlar steps to side elevations. Boarded 2-leaf timber gates.

Statement of Interest

See 33 Mortonhall Road above. 14 Oswald Road was tailored for the architects friend, John Fraser Barton of William Barton & Sons Ltd, plumbers. The original design was amended in 1898 to include a billiard room in the attic while ensuring that no element broke the ridge line. A-Group with 31, 33 and 35 Mortonhall Road.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17569623

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)