Description

Circa 1790; mid 19th century alterations to No 49. Pair of 3-storey basement and attic, 3-bay former terraced classical houses. Droved Craigleith sandstone ashlar. Polished square cut rustication at ground; cill course at 1st floor. Regular fenestration, polished margin drafts. Flush-panelled doors; No 49 with decorative metal fanlight and later Roman Doric columned porch with triglyph frieze; full-width slate-hung box dormer with 2 windows. No 50 with 2 bowed dormers; that to left tripartite. Baements with flush-panelled doors and 3-pane fanlights.

Rubble rear elevations with projecting closet tower at centre flanked by irregular bays; No 49 3-storey with mansard roof, tripartite window to left at ground and 1st floor; No 50 raised 1 storey with roof terrace and garret dormer.

Timber sash and case windows; 12-pane, plate glass to ground and 1st floor of No 50; 16-pane to dormers (plate glass casements to left dormer of No 50); grey slates.

INTERIOR: No 49 with 19th century compartmentalised ceiling and Greek key cornice to Entrance Hall, modern plate glass screen; consoled archway to central stairhall with original cornice. Compact curving cantilevered stair with square iron banisters; circular cupola. Former Dining Room with panelled dado and later plaster panelled walls, heavy Greek key and egg and dart cornice, fluted Cornithian pilasters supporting beam, and sideboard recess; black slate chimneypiece. Rear right room with 19th century cornice and reeded marble chimneypiece. At 1st floor very tight landing; former Drawing Room with brown veined marble chimneypiece; pair of double doors with cornices and clasping pilasters. Rear rooms joined to form L-plan, with 19th century cornice and chimneypiece to match that at front. 2nd floor landing with fluted Cornithian pilasters to passage (perhaps re-used from elsewhere?); consoled archway to attic stair.

No 50 with later glazed screen in Hall, consoled archway to stairhall, similar to above but stair is aligned with hallway. Shallow former Dining Room with sideboard recess, 19th century chimneypiece. Rear right room with arched recess and tripartite window. At 1st floor, former Drawing Room with swagged frieze to cornice and corniced doors with clasping pilasters, plain 19th century chimneypiece; temporary partitions. At 2nd floor access to office and attic flat above No 51.

RAILINGS AND LAMP STANDARDS: cast-iron spearhead railings; pair of cast-iron lamp standards to No 49.

Statement of Interest

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. The 2nd floor and attic above No 51 (formerly a single house - see separate listing) are now accessed through No 50, and are addressed as No 50. The houses which flank this pair, Nos 48 and 51, are a pair (see separate listings), which suggests that the whole run was built by the same builder, or at least on the same feu.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17576707

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House