16 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh

These are a pair of three-storey townhouses with a basement, built between 1870 and 1880 by John Chesser, with some work carried out by Peddie & Kinnear. They form part of a terrace at 24 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh; No. 28 constitutes an advanced, five-bay corner block that joins with 1 Lansdowne Crescent (listed separately). The houses are constructed of polished, channelled sandstone ashlar with polished dressings, with a droved finish to the basement. A banded cill course runs along the ground and first floors, and a string course and brackets support the cornice. Elaborate console cornices feature above the doorpieces, with a cross-pattern ironwork balcony above the first-floor window in one bay; a similar balcony is positioned above the second-floor window of the canted bays. Moulded margins and bracketed block cills are seen at the second-floor level.

The north-eastern, principal elevation (Nos. 16-26) comprises twelve bays. A basement door is centrally positioned, with a small window to the right beneath an oversailing platt. A window is set on the face of the canted bay to the left, with some bays featuring additional window lights. Ashlar steps and an entrance platt lead to a panelled timber door with a large rectangular fanlight. Single windows are present above on the first and second floors. Canted bays feature lights on all sides at ground and first floor levels; the bay to the left has a tripartite window at the second floor. An additional bay to the right of the entrance to No. 26 contains a window on each floor; a basement door is positioned beneath the platt, accompanied by a small light to the left.

No. 28, the corner block, is advanced and has five bays; a boarded door with a boarded fanlight sits at the outer left bay beneath the entrance platt, flanked by a window to the right, with windows then to the remaining four bays at basement level. A panelled timber door with a fanlight is set in a plain moulded margin at the outer left bay on the ground floor. Regular fenestration is observed on the remaining ground and upper floor bays.

The windows are timber sash and case with two or four panes of glass. The roof is grey slate, with coped mutual sandstone ashlar stacks – one stack to the left of No. 28 is rendered – and moulded cylindrical cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods are also present. Fleur-de-lys railings are situated on the entrance platts and set in coping along the street, while plain railings surround the basement steps.