32 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh

32 Shandwick Place is a late 19th-century commercial building, constructed in 1887 by MacGibbon and Ross. It is connected internally to the earlier townhouses at 34 and 36 Shandwick Place, which date to around 1819 and were designed by James Tait.

The building at 32 Shandwick Place is a four-storey and attic structure with a gable front, featuring a cast-iron frame and stucco detailing. A cornice sits above the ground floor, canted and bracketed to support segmental-headed windows, bipartite to the centre. Outer pilasters and brackets at the corners support a corniced cill course at the second floor. Similar pilasters and brackets are present at the second floor, with straight-headed windows featuring segmental tympana. A corniced section with a cast-iron balustrade acts as a balcony above the second floor. The third floor features four windows with pilasters and a cornice, topped with a blocking course. The shaped gable has two pilastered central bays, two windows with semi-circular tympana, an open finialed pediment, and outer finials.

Nos. 34 and 36 Shandwick Place are a three-storey and attic, five-bay classical townhouse, with a modern ground floor shop and upper floors converted to shop and storage space. The exterior is of smooth sandstone ashlar, with rendered and painted shopfront at ground floor level, which connects to No. 32. The left-hand bay is break fronted and pedimented, featuring a blind balustrade to the first floor. A cill course is present at the first floor, and a band course at the second. Decorative cast-iron balconies are present on the second floor windows, and there are canted dormers in the roof.

The rear elevation of 32 Shandwick Place is four storeys and attic, with ground floor garaging later converted to storage. The exterior is of square snecked sandstone, with later cement patching repairs. Rolled steel lintels and steel shutters are visible.

The interior has a late 20th-century open-plan shopfloor that connects Nos. 32, 34 and 36 Shandwick Place. The plan is deep, featuring a cupola-topped light well at the centre. The original cast-iron balustrade to the stair is located to the front right of the plan. Upper floors have been converted to storage spaces. 19th-century mews garages are connected to the main building at ground floor level to the rear.

The ground floor has a plate glass commercial shop front. Large plate glass is set in timber-framed windows with segmented hopper openings at the first and second floors. Timber sash and case windows are found at the third and attic storeys. Nos. 34 and 36 have plate glass in timber sash and case windows. The rear has irregular glazing, with plate glass in steel frames. The roof is a steep double pitch M-section, covered with grey slate, with painted stone skews. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present.