Description

Early 19th century. 3-storey and attic, 10-bay near-symmetrical classical tenement building, L-plan, with principal facades to Leith Walk and Smith?s Place. Sandstone ashlar principal fronts, droved at ground and 2nd floors, SW corner bays at ground and 1st floors painted, rubble N and E (REAR) elevations with ashlar dressings. Later 19th century and modern shopfronts at ground floor, W elevation, cornice and blocking course at eaves. Projecting cills to windows.

W (LEITH WALK) ELEVATION: bays arranged 4-2-4 at 1st and 2nd floors with blind windows in penultimate right bay and above tenement door at 1st floor. Pilastered tenement door to right of centre bay. Chimney-gable with 2 windows above centre bays. Upper half of 1st floor windows at bays 7-10 obscured by shop facia.

S (SMITH?S PLACE) ELEVATION: Ground floor turns corner as raised basement and 1st floor as principal floor. 6 bays, pedimented gable end of Leith Walk block in bays 1-3. Blind windows in basement, 1st and 2nd bays, infilled at 4th, 5th, and 6th bays. Horizontal channelling to 1st (principal) floor with voussoirs and band course over windows, blinded windows at penultimate bay to left . Entrance door in 3rd bay accessed by flight of stone steps oversailing basement. 2nd floor windows architraved and corniced at bays 1-3, blind in 2nd and 3rd bays, cornice around gable pediment and at eaves over regular fenestration in 3 bays to right.

N ELEVATION: windowless, cement rendered and lined at ground floor, evidence of former fireplace openings at 2nd floor and attic levels.

Plate glass, timber sash and case windows at 2nd floor, bay 6-10, principal and 1st floors of S elevation, modern glazing elsewhere. 6-panelled door to common stair at W elevation, glazed upper panels, 4-panelled door to S elevation with radial fanlight above. Grey slate roof, pitched to N, piended to platform behind chimney at S end. Metal-clad box dormers over 4th and 6th bays of S elevation. Cast-iron gutters to rear, downpipe in re-entrant angle and downpipe at NW corner from concealed gutter. Corniced ashlar apex stacks to S and W gables, cement-rendered and coped to N, rubble wallhead stack to rear, circular cans to most flues. Terrazzo covered steps to doorway in S elevation with plain wrought-iron handrail.

Coursed rubble boundary wall to S surmounted by wrought-iron railing, enclosing concrete roofed cellar.

Statement of Interest

A-Group, with 2-19 Smith?s Place, 169-177 Leith Walk and 185-193 Leith Walk. This building forms W end of the palace frontage that is the N range of the scheme laid out in 1814 by James Smith, merchant. It is therefore an essential element of this important classical enclave.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17806281

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]