17C Smith's Place, 17B, 17A, Edinburgh

This is an early 19th century end-of-terrace classical house that was significantly altered and extended in the mid-19th century. The extensions created a U-shaped former chemical works, with ranges facing east, north, and west, surrounding a cobbled courtyard open to the south. The main entrance is located at No. 17 Smith’s Place, forming the western pavilion of a classical facade that originally mirrored the appearance of the building at No. 1.

The west range’s south elevation, facing Smith’s Place, is sandstone ashlar, with coursed rubble walls on its east side. The elevation is three bays wide over a basement, with a droved finish to the basement and first floor. Rusticated masonry sits between band courses at principal and first floor levels, featuring voussoirs over the openings. A cornice surrounds a gable pediment at eaves level. The entrance doorpiece is timber, pilastered with capitals and bases, and topped by an architrave, frieze, and pediment. The entrance door has been lowered to pavement level within the third bay. Ground floor window cills have been lowered, and the first floor windows are architraved and corniced. Small, infilled square windows are located at ground and first floor levels on the east elevation.

The north range features a six-bay elevation. A single-storey building is set in the re-entrant angle at the first to third bays, with a rubble wall to the south, partially corniced, and including an infilled, margined, and corniced doorway at bay 1. The eastern wall of this building is cement-rendered with modern window openings.

The east range presents a four-bay west elevation, notable for an arched cart entrance in the second bay, filled with voussoirs and now containing loading doors (converted to windows) above. A loading well is situated below courtyard level in the third bay. A two-bay return is visible at the south end, with a door and window at ground floor level in the first and second bays, respectively, and a light well below courtyard level in the second bay. The east elevation features four widely spaced bays, with additional windows at first floor to the right of the third bay. Infilled doorways are present at ground floor level in the first and fourth bays.

Most openings contain 12-pane timber sash and case windows, with the exception of the cart arch, which has an 8-pane timber sash and case with a timber mullion. The principal floor windows on the entrance facade have been altered, and basement windows are fitted with steel shutters. The main entrance door is a two-leaf, six-panel timber door, with vertically-boarded doors to the arch. A two-leaf timber door with glazed upper panels are found within the loading well.

The building has a grey slate, M-roof, with a piended end at the south of the east range, and a pediment behind the entrance facade. A modern, flat-roofed, cement-rendered addition projects through the roof at the southeast corner. The single-storey building has a piended grey slate roof with a large skylight. A cast-iron hoist with a pulley, along with decorative wrought-iron infill and brackets, is located at third floor level to the right of the cart arch, featuring a metal roller at the head of the arch. Iron bars are present in the first-floor windows of the north range (bays 1-3), and protective iron grilles cover the loading and light wells.

Two stone steps lead to the entrance door at Smith’s Place, accompanied by a cast-iron boot scraper and cast-iron railings on a stone cope with fleur-de-lys finials. Stone steps also lead to the basement area.