61, 62, 63 Queen Street, Edinburgh

61, 62, and 63 Queen Street in Edinburgh are three-storey buildings with a basement and attic, originally built in 1791 and significantly altered later, particularly in the mid-19th century when shopfronts were added. These former classical houses have been converted into a pair of shops with separate access to first-floor flats and a common stair leading to the upper flats, which were once double uppers but are now four separate flats. The exterior is made of droved Craigleith sandstone ashlar, with some replacement stones.

At the ground level, the basement has been paved over, and there is a central common stair door with a plate glass fanlight, flanked by matching four-bay painted ashlar shopfronts. The inner bay features a door leading to the first-floor flat, and both shopfronts have mutuled cornices. No 61 is slightly elevated and has a modern plate glass shop window, while No 63 includes a flat above with an altered shop entrance. The first floor features a cill course and the shadow of former applied timber cornices on three bays of No 61.

The buildings have a mutuled cornice and two earlier 19th-century bowed slate-hung dormers, along with numerous skylights. The rear elevation is made of coursed rubble and is four storeys high with four bays; the left bay has tripartite windows on each floor, while the centre bays are bowed with tripartite windows on the centre right bay, and the right bay is diminutive.

The windows are timber sash and case with 12 panes. The roofs have ashlar coped mutual skews and dressed stone stacks, with the eastern side rendered. The roofs are covered with grey slates.

Inside, the former houses feature curving cantilevered top-lit stairs located behind the common stair. The shop at No 61 has been fully modernised, while No 63 retains many original features, including a painted chimneypiece at the rear on the ground floor. The former double uppers have good detailing on the principal floor, including panelled dadoes and cornices. The east drawing room features a fluted timber chimneypiece with Ionic pilasters, and the dining room at the rear has an elaborate carved timber chimneypiece. The remainder of the flats was not seen in 1994.