Union Bank, 28 Bernard Street, Leith, Edinburgh

The Union Bank, located at 47-47A Timber Bush in Leith, Edinburgh, is a 3-storey, 2-bay Italianate bank building designed by James Simpson in 1871. The exterior features cream sandstone with a polished ashlar front, ashlar on the ground floor of the northwest elevation, and squared and snecked stugged rubble above. Notable architectural details include a base course, a dentilled cornice above the ground floor, a moulded cill course at the second floor, deeply corbelled and dentilled eaves cornice, architraved windows, and bracketed cills at the second floor. The ground floor has round-arched openings.

On the southwest elevation facing Bernard Street, there is a doorway on the left with polished red granite Ionic columns supporting a porch and entablature. This doorway features a masque-carved head keystone, polished red granite Corinthian nook-shafts, a panelled door, and a semi-circular plate glass fanlight. To the first floor, there is a single window with a consoled dentilled pediment, and another single window at the second floor. The right bay has a 2-storey canted window divided by pilasters, with panelled aprons at the first floor and a dentilled cornice, along with a bipartite window at the second floor.

The northwest elevation, facing Timber Bush, consists of 6 bays with a slightly angled bay on the outer right that mirrors the front elevation, featuring single windows and a consoled dentilled pediment at the first floor. There is a wallhead stack, a consoled and corniced doorway to the left of center with a 2-leaf panelled door and a barred semi-circular fanlight, and a small secondary door to the left. The remaining bays have single windows, and there is a canted tripartite dormer.

The southeast elevation has irregular single windows and barred round-arched windows. The building features timber sash and case windows, mostly with plate glass glazing, and some 4-pane windows on the side. The roof is a half-piend slate roof with metal flashings, including one wallhead stack, one transverse stack, and an apex stack at the rear. The eaves have a moulded gutter and gutterheads.

Inside, the main telling hall has a compartmental ceiling with heavy dentilled cornices.