Cafe Royal, 17 West Register Street, Edinburgh

The Cafe Royal, located at 17 West Register Street, Edinburgh, is a French Second Empire hotel and oyster bar built in 1861 by Robert Paterson, with subsequent alterations by A W Macnaughton (1893-5), J Macintyre Henry (1898-1901), and Henry and T Forbes Maclennan (1923). The building has a basement, three main floors, and a double attic, set beneath a steep mansard roof. It is six bays wide, with quadrant corner bays extending along the return elevations.

The exterior is constructed of polished cream ashlar sandstone. The base course includes pavement grilles for the basement. The ground floor features basket arches and a cornice. The first floor has arcaded windows with a simple cornice band. The second floor is pilastered with lugged architraves and keystones. A heavy consoled cornice sits above, topped by a pedestalled parapet with an interlaced arcaded cast-iron balustrade. Dormers punctuate the roofline: pedimented ashlar dormers at the corners with acroteria, pedimented timber dormers behind the parapet, and arched timber dormers to the upper attic. Slim timber mullions feature in the windows. A grand pedimented doorway, flanked by polished pink granite columns, marks the entrance to the Oyster Bar at the northwest corner, dating from 1898.

The Register Place elevation displays symmetrical six-bay design. A central arched doorway is framed by Corinthian columns and incised decoration, with a consoled panelled parapet dated 1862. A cellar hatch is on the left, and a secondary door on the right, adorned with a wrought-iron bracket shaped like a lobster. Three dormers are present.

The West Register Street elevation is five bays wide, with a door to the right providing access to the upper floors. Three dormers are also found here.

The Gabriel’s Road elevation presents two bays consistent with the other facades, extending into two further plain stugged bays to the south. A pedimented door with granite columns sits above, mirroring the Oyster Bar entrance. A single dormer is located above.

Bipartite plate glass windows are used on the ground and first floors, interspersed with opening roundels. Above, four-pane timber sash and case windows are present. The roof is covered in grey slates, with harled stacks rising from the structure.

The interior was extensively remodelled by J Macintyre Henry between 1900 and 1901, resulting in lavish woodwork throughout. This includes a panelled dado, a foliate rococo frieze, and a delicate compartmented ceiling with small hanging bosses at the intersections. The ground floor bar, positioned to the east, showcases six large Doulton tile pictures depicting famous inventors, designed by John Eyre and executed by K Sturgeon and W G W Nunn. Brass Corinthian lamp standards adorn the central bar, complemented by upholstered horseshoe-shaped booths along the window wall. The Oyster Bar is separated from the main bar by an arcaded mirror screen, featuring a red marble counter with small tiled ovals set into the woodwork. Eight stained glass windows, portraying British sportsmen, are the work of Ballantine and Gardiner. Three further tile pictures decorate the space; one depicts inventors, and two illustrate ships on the Clyde and Mersey by Esther Lewis.

The first-floor Crown Room is characterized by opulent plasterwork and gilded figurines within the arcade spandrels, as well as ceiling roundels. The American Bar, located in the northwest corner and added in 1923, boasts Renaissance-style woodwork. A function room with three domes in the ceiling extends south, overlapping with numbers 5-17 West Register Street (covered in a separate listing).