7 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

7 Royal Terrace is a townhouse built between 1823 and the early 1830s, designed by William Playfair as part of a very long, 121-bay terrace. It is part of a group value context, recognised for its exceptional architectural merit. The building forms part of an extremely long terrace of townhouses with a palace-front appearance, incorporating arched and rusticated ground floor elements. At the centre is a three-storey section punctuated by three-storey and attic Corinthian colonnaded pavilions, with flanking three-storey balustraded sections that lead to further three-storey sections with three-storey and attic Ionic colonnaded pavilions. Two-storey balustraded sections define the outer left and right edges of the terrace. All houses feature basements.

The exterior 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 predominantly coursed squared rubble with dressed margins. The principal elevation has a base course, a dividing band between the basement and ground floor, an impost course to the ground floor, and a further dividing band between the ground and first floors. A narrow band course runs above the first floor, broken by a window to each bay, with additional band courses above the second floor and an eaves cornice above a balustraded parapet. Most windows have regular fenestration, though the rear elevation has predominantly regular window placement. Ground floor openings are round-headed and within round-headed overarches.

The north (principal) elevation is three bays wide and three storeys high, with a basement. Basement windows are present in the left and right bays, while the central bay features a timber and glazed door with a three-light fanlight, all within a segmentally-headed opening. The ground floor right bay has steps and a platt that connects with those of number 6, leading to a timber-panelled door with flanking four-light margin lights and a segmental fanlight featuring petal-style glazing. Cast-iron balconnettes are fitted to the first-floor windows.

The south (rear) elevation is two bays wide, three stories high, and has a basement. It features a band course dividing the ground and first floors and an eaves cornice, with a blocking course above.

The glazing is predominantly 12-pane, with 17-pane glazing to the ground floor and 15-pane glazing to the first floor of the principal elevation. The rear elevation has 6-lying-pane glazing to the ground floor right bay. Windows are primarily timber sash and case windows. The roof is an M-shape with central valleys, covered in graded grey slate with stone skews and skewputts. West-facing stone ridge stacks with circular cans are shared with the front and rear pitches.

To the front, stone coping with cast-iron railings featuring dog bars, spear-head finials, and a distinctive circled border defines the basement recess and platt. At the rear, a random rubble boundary wall with flat coping forms the garden boundary, with cast-iron railings at its southern end.