39 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

39 Royal Terrace is a townhouse built between 1823 and the early 1830s, designed by William Playfair as part of the extraordinarily long 121-bay Royal Terrace in Edinburgh. The terrace comprises townhouses with an arched and rusticated ground floor, and features a central three-storey section punctuated by three further three-storey and attic Corinthian colonnaded pavilions, with flanking balustraded sections leading to three-storey sections with three-storey and attic Ionic colonnaded pavilions. Balustraded sections mark the outer left and right, and all houses have basements.

The building is constructed of droved ashlar to the basement, V-chamfered rusticated ashlar to the ground floor, and polished ashlar to the upper floors. The rear elevation is primarily coursed squared rubble with dressed margins. The principal elevation features a base course, dividing band between the basement and ground floor, an impost course to the ground floor, a dividing band between the ground and first floors, and a narrow band course to the first floor, interrupted by a window in each bay. Fenestration is regular, predominantly so on the rear elevation, which has round-headed openings in round-headed overarches at ground floor level.

The north (principal) elevation is a two-storey, basement and attic, three-bay design. The basement has a timber-panelled door with a segmental fanlight at the centre, with windows to the left and right bays, all within segmentally-headed openings. The ground floor features steps and a platt overarching the basement recess, leading to a timber-panelled door with flanking margin lights and an elaborately petal-glazed segmental fanlight, with windows in the remaining bays. Cast-iron balconnettes adorn the first-floor windows, and a band course sits above them. The building has an eaves cornice and a balustraded parapet, with three dormer windows in the roof.

The south (rear) elevation is a three-bay design with a band course between the basement and ground floors and again between the ground and first floors, as well as an eaves cornice and a blocking course. A later full-height extension exists to the centre bay.

The windows have 12-pane glazing in the basement and attic, 17-pane glazing to the ground floor, and 15-pane glazing to the first floor on the front elevation. Most rear windows have 6-pane glazing, all set in timber sash and case frames. The roof is an M-pitch with central valleys and a mansard profile to the front, covered with graded grey slate. East and west sides feature mutual corniced ridge stacks surmounted by octagonal flues and predominantly circular cans.

The front has stone coping with cast-iron railings featuring dog bars, spear-head finials, and a distinctive circled border, edging the basement recess and platt. A random rubble boundary wall with flat and saddleback coping forms the rear garden boundary.

The interior of the ground floor lobby features a fluted groin-vaulted ceiling.