15 Carlton Terrace, Edinburgh

William Playfair, designed 1821-1825, built from late 1820s-mid 1830s. Part of long hairpin-curved terrace of 19 classical town houses; Nos 1-4 and 14-19, rectangular-plan houses with straight 3-bay front elevations; Nos 5-13, wedge-plan houses with curved 4-bay front elevations; predominantly 2-storey and basement with balustraded parapet; panelled parapets to Nos 1, 14 and 17. Droved ashlar to basements; polished ashlar to upper floors; predominantly coursed squared rubble with droved margins to side and rear elevations. Base course to basements; dividing band between basement and ground floors and ground and 1st floors; modillioned eaves cornice to front elevations, eaves band to rear elevations. Raised door surrounds with consoled cornices. Regular fenestration; architraved and corniced windows with panelled aprons to ground floor; architraved windows with cast-iron balconnettes to 1st floor.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 3-storey and basement elevation with attic storey (later addition, see Notes) above modillioned cornice. To basement, timber-panelled door with 3-light fanlight to centre bay; windows to left and right bays. To ground floor, to right bay, platt overarching basement recess leading to 2-leaf timber-panelled door with rectangular fanlight. 2nd floor cill course. Aprons to attic storey windows.

S (REAR) ELEVATION: 3-bay elevation; full-height advanced piend-roofed bay to centre; additional mansard-style storey to central roof valley.

GLAZING etc: predominantly 12-pane glazing; 15-pane glazing to 1st floor to front elevation; glazing predominantly in timber sash and case windows. Double-pitched roof with central valley; graded grey slate to pitched and mansard sections; stone skews and skewputts. To front, mutual rendered and ashlar to stack to left; to rear, rendered mutual stacks to left and right; all stacks corniced with predominantly circular cans. Some cast-iron rainwater goods.

RAILINGS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: to front, edging basement recess and platt, stone coping surmounted by cast-iron railings with dog bars, spear-head finials and distinctive circled border. To rear, forming boundary of garden, random rubble walls with predominantly flat coping.

INTERIOR: to ground floor: to lobby, geometric and encaustic tiled floor, good plasterwork, compartmented ceiling. To 1st floor: to former drawing room (E), good plasterwork, shallow- relief patterning to ceiling, timber chimneypiece; to front room (W), good plasterwork. To stair and stair hall: oval cupola in compartmented ceiling; stone stairs with timber balusters and newels; cast-iron tray rest to 1st floor; wrought iron lamp brackets to 1st and 2nd floors; good plasterwork to ceiling, landings and ground floor, including swagged frieze to upper walls.