491 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

491 Lawnmarket in Edinburgh is a five-storey and attic tenement building dating from around 1795, with an earlier wing at the rear that was remodeled by S Henbest Capper in 1892. The building features shops on the ground floor and has a narrow round-arched entrance to the central pend, which leads to a steep turnpike stair accessing the flats. The main block is a long, narrow, asymmetrical structure with an ashlar facade that is painted at the ground level, while the rear is constructed of rubble and the northwest wing is harled. The building has a regular pattern of windows, an eaves course, projecting cills, and two piend-roofed slated timber dormers in the attic.

The rear wing includes an irregular stair tower on the north side, which curves at the ground floor and jetties out above. There are timber-framed access balconies on the east side. The west elevation is irregular, featuring asymmetrically placed small windows and broad wallhead stacks.

Most of the windows are timber sash and case with predominantly 12-pane glazing. The roof is covered with grey slates, and there are tall stacks at the rear that are harled and topped with circular cans.