2 Gayfield Street, Edinburgh

This is an early 19th century block of houses and tenements, situated on a corner plot in Edinburgh. The building forms an L-shape and is divided into three sections, reflecting different phases of construction. The principal elevation, facing Broughton Place, is nearly symmetrical with five bays across the front, rising to two storeys and an attic. The section facing Gayfield Street to the left has four bays, two storeys, a basement, and an attic. To the far right on Gayfield Street, a slightly later three-bay, three-storey section with a basement and attic is visible.

The building is constructed of lightly boasted/droved ashlar stone, with some sections painted; squared snecked stugged stone with dressed margins is visible at the rear. Key architectural details include a projecting base course, a dividing band between the ground and first floors (which is defaced on the three-storey section), a cill band to the first floor (also defaced on the three-storey section), eaves course, a cornice, and a blocking course. A recessed curved section marks the corner of the building. The fenestration is largely regular.

The Broughton Street elevation features six bays on the ground floor. A timber-panelled door with a letterbox fanlight is centrally positioned on the left side, flanked by two windows with recessed aprons. A similar timber-panelled door with a four-pane letterbox fanlight is centrally located on the right side, recessed within an architraved opening and flanked by two windows in architraved surrounds with recessed aprons below. The first floor has five bays and three dormers are visible on the roof.

The Gayfield Street elevation is split into two sections. The two-storey section on the left has basement windows below pavement level on the inner left and outer right bays. A timber door with a nine-pane fanlight is present on the inner right bay, with two dormers above. The three-storey section to the right has a centrally located timber-panelled door with a tall, blocked fanlight above, and visible basement windows on either side of the pavement level.

The rear elevations are simpler in design. The north-east (rear) elevation has two bays and a modern timber door on the right. A canted dormer is visible on the roof. The north-west (rear) elevation includes a three-storey, two-bay section with round-arched openings on the ground floor; one opening serves as entrance to a covered passageway with doors on either side. To the left is a four-storey, four-bay (three-bay to ground floor) section, which also incorporates a timber-panelled door with a letterbox fanlight.

Most windows retain 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. The right bays on the ground floor of the Broughton Street elevation feature four-pane upper sashes and plate glass lower sashes. Two-pane top-hinged casements with inverted T-bar glazing are located on the ground floor of the first and second bays from the left on the Gayfield Street elevation. The roofs are piended with curved slate haffits on the dormers, including canted haffits on the central dormer of the Broughton Street elevation and the rear dormer. Numerous rooflights are present. The roof is slate with stone skews and skewputts. Stone and rendered gablehead stacks, along with a corniced ashlar wallhead stack and circular cans, are visible, indicating the chimney positions.