Description

Circa 1785. 3-storey basement and attic, 7-bay terraced classical block with pair of 2-storey and basement houses flanking tenement stair with pair of double uppers. Craigleith ashlar. V-jointed rustication at ground, polished band to 1st floor moulded cill course, droved above. Steps to principal doorpieces with moulded architraves, frieze tablet and cornice, flanking tenement door with 3-pane letterbox fanlight below blind rectangular fanlight (painted as No 20); all doors flush-panelled; plate glass fanlight to No 19, timber sunburst to No 20. Slate-hung dormers; single piended to left, 2 elegant bowed dormers to right,with bowed glazing, far right tripartite.

Timber sash and case windows; plate glass to 3 left bays, 12-pane to

4 right bays. Grey slates; dressed sandstone mutual stacks (very tall to E); ashlar-coped mutual skews.

INTERIOR:

NO 18: archway from Hall, with simple acanthus cornice, to central horseshoe stair; plain iron banisters. Dining Room with panelled dado, fine gesso chimneypiece (stripped) with fluted pilasters, later cornice; sideboard recess unusually on inner side wall. Tray rest at 1st floor; Drawing Room with panelled dado, simple acanthus cornice, fine gesso chimneypiece with fluted Corinthian pilasters and frieze, with urns and central tableau.

NO 20: similar to above; later glazed screen in Hall, with simple bracketed cornice. Dining Room with panelled dado, simple acanthus cornice, swagged gesso chimneypiece (no recess). Room to rear right with apsidal-ended inner wall, (grained) gesso chimneypiece. Drawing Room with panelled dado, simple cornice and chimneypiece (later ?).

NO 19: flats not seen 1994.

Statement of Interest

Sydney Smith lived at No 19. A significant surviving part of the original fabric of Edinburgh?s New Town, one of the most important and best preserved examples of urban planning in Britain; Queen Street was built to take advantage of the northern views, and has survived remarkably unaltered to this day.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17576620

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings