17 Walker Street, Edinburgh

John Lessels 1855-6 (Melville Crescent splayed elevation) linking to earlier Robert Brown end terrace blocks of 1814 fronting 42 Melville Street and 17 Walker Street. All 3-storey and basement unified façade of townhouses with main-door and common stair flats behind; oversailing platts. Later attic addition to No. 42 Melville Street. Basement area to street including some vaulted cellars and retaining walls. Sandstone ashlar, channelled at ground floor. Banded base course; banded cill and string courses at 1st floor; banded cill course at 2nd floor. Stepped parapets with balustrades in between (balustrades missing to Melville Crescent elevation.) Doorways in round arched surrounds with fanlight and narrow sidelights. Round arched recessed surrounds to ground floor. Decorative cast-iron arches with lamp holder to Melville Street.

W (MELVILLE CRESCENT) ELEVATION: symmetrical 9 bays. Advanced and pilastered central 3 bays and single end bays with architraved bracketed and corniced 1st floor windows.

NW (MELVILLE STREET) AND E (WALKER STREET) ELEVATIONS: symmetrical 5 bays. Advanced flanking bays and recessed centre. Sandstone ashlar vermiculated to basement. Blind fanlight to Melville Street elevation. Architraved, bracketed and corniced surrounds at 1st floor; architraved, bracketed and pedimented surround to centre.

Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case. Double pitch M-section roof; grey slates. Corniced ashlar gable end and ridge stacks with modern clay cans. Cast-iron railings on ashlar coping stone edging basement recess. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: interior typified by highly decorative classical scheme with detailed cornicing, converted for later office and residential use (2008).

ARCHED LAMP HOLDERS: large ornate cast-iron arches above entrance platt to Melville street with lampholder to centre; some with glass bell-jar shades. Coiled cast-iron serpent lamp snuffers to each side of archway.