10 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh

11 Melville Crescent in Edinburgh is a notable building designed by John Lessels between 1855 and 1856, which connects to earlier end terrace blocks by Robert Brown from 1814 that front 44 Melville Street and 18 Walker Street. This structure consists of three stories and a basement, featuring a unified façade of townhouses with main-door and common stair flats behind, and oversailing platts. The basement area includes some vaulted cellars and retaining walls.

The exterior is constructed of sandstone ashlar, with a channelled ground floor. It has a banded base course, banded cill and string courses at the first floor, and a banded cill course at the second floor. The building is topped with stepped parapets that have balustrades in between. The main entrance features a round arched surround with a fanlight and narrow sidelights, while the ground floor windows are set in recessed round arched surrounds. At the first floor, there are cast-iron balconies supported by foliate brackets, and decorative cast-iron arches with lamp holders are present on Melville Street.

The north elevation on Melville Crescent is symmetrical with nine bays, featuring advanced and pilastered central three bays and single end bays with architraved, bracketed, and corniced windows on the first floor. The northwest elevation facing Melville Street and Walker Street is also symmetrical with five bays, showcasing advanced flanking bays and a recessed center. This elevation is similarly constructed of sandstone ashlar, vermiculated at the basement, with architraved, bracketed, and corniced surrounds at the first floor, and a pedimented central window.

The windows predominantly feature plate glass in timber sash and case. The roof is a double pitch M-section covered with grey slates, and it includes corniced ashlar gable ends and ridge stacks with modern clay cans. The basement recess is edged with cast-iron railings on ashlar coping stones, and there are cast-iron rainwater goods.

Inside, the building is characterized by a highly decorative classical scheme with detailed cornicing, which has been converted for office and residential use in 2008. Noteworthy features include large ornate cast-iron arches above the entrance platt to Melville Street, each with a central lampholder, some fitted with glass bell-jar shades, and coiled cast-iron serpent lamp snuffers flanking the archway.