12 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh

12 South Charlotte Street is a former classical tenement built around 1790. It is a three-storey building with a basement and attic, featuring five bays. The exterior is made of droved cream sandstone ashlar with polished dressings, and the ground floor is rusticated. The building has an eaves cornice and steps leading to an arched tripartite doorpiece, which is flanked by pilasters and has a fluted frieze with a radiating fanlight at the center. There are also steps that lead to a former common stair door on the left, although this door is now blocked and has been converted into a window. The building includes a pair of earlier 19th-century piend-roofed tripartite dormers.

The south gable end is constructed of rubble and features windows at the center. The rear elevation is irregular with three bays, including tripartite windows on the left and an arched stair window at the center, along with a full attic storey. The windows throughout the building are timber sash and case with 12 panes. The roof has ashlar coped skews, rebuilt stacks that are rendered on the south side, and is covered with grey slates.

Inside, there is a tripartite timber lobby screen and a 19th-century timber dog-leg stair aligned on the axis. The northeast room on the ground floor features a pilastered sideboard recess and a carved and painted chimneypiece. The common stair has been removed. The front of the property is adorned with cast-iron spearhead railings.