27 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh

27 Waterloo Place in Edinburgh is a classical building designed by Archibald Elliot in 1815 and completed in 1819. It features symmetrical elevations with 22 bays facing Waterloo Place and stands three storeys tall, with attic floors in the advanced pavilions and a four-storey substructure. The exterior is constructed of polished ashlar and includes a slightly advanced base course, a cill band at the first floor, a dividing band between the first and second floors, an eaves course, a cornice, and a balustraded parapet. The first floors of the advanced pavilions are separated by giant pilasters, and the ground floor has round arched openings with recessed aprons beneath the windows, which are regularly arranged.

The south elevation along Waterloo Place presents a long palace-like range with advanced pavilions at the center and on the outer right and left, with three bays on each side and six bays in the center. There are Greek Doric doorpieces, which are later additions, located at the seventh and nineteenth bays from the left.

The east elevation is mostly obscured from view below the first floor due to the high ground level of the adjoining Old Calton Burying Ground. There is a later extension block to the right of the original elevation.

In terms of glazing, the building predominantly features nine-pane windows in the attic, twelve-pane windows on the second floor (with fifteen panes at the pavilions), and eighteen-pane windows on the first floor. The ground floor has timber sash-and-case windows with nine-pane upper sashes and four-pane lower sashes. The roofs are flat with grey slate, and there are corniced ashlar stacks at the wallheads on either side of the advanced pavilions.

The interior has been significantly altered to accommodate office space, but some original details remain. On the ground floor, there is elaborate classical cornicing, two Ionic columns in the foyer area of No. 23, architraved windows with timber-panelled ingoes and soffits, a classical timber chimneypiece with a mirrored overmantel, a marble chimneypiece with a tiled insert and classical grate, and a consoled timber fireplace. Additionally, there is a stained glass fanlight above the inner door of No. 25.