135 High Street, Edinburgh

This building at 135 High Street, Edinburgh, is a public house incorporating fabric dating back to 1813, with significant alterations in 1864-65 by David Cousin and in 1901 by Peter Lyle Barclay Henderson. The original structure was part of a 7-bay, 5-storey tenement designed by Thomas Bonnar in 1813.

The main, south-facing (High Street) elevation is a tall, symmetrical, 3-bay design with Renaissance detailing added in 1901. It is constructed of polished grey ashlar with fluted Ionic pilasters framing the bays, supported by scrolled foliate consoles and a dentilled cornice. A central doorway features a shouldered fanlight, a pair of glazed timber doors, and a swept pediment. Flanking this are large, key-blocked round-arched windows with moulded ingoes.

Two pens lead off the High Street elevation. The one to the right, leading to Bishop's Close, has a stone-vaulted rear section. The one to the left, opening onto Carrubber's Close, connects to a narrow, Baronial-detailed tenement block built on a sloping site, with a long rear range. A drum staircase is located in the re-entrant angle to the rear. An adjoining, plainer tenement block is located to the north, constructed in 1865.

The western (Carrubber's Close) elevation is a 3-storey and attic, 5-bay model tenement of squared and snecked sandstone with dressed margins. It includes a painted, roll-moulded doorway with stop-chamfered edges, a metal-studded timber door, and flanking windows with modern iron grilles shaped like stylized bishop’s mitres. Four gabled dormers break the eaves. A modern boarded door provides access, and an open staircase with corbelled openings and plain iron railings is located to the left.

The north elevation is five storeys high with regular single and bipartite windows.

The east elevation, facing Bishop's Close, is of droved ashlar and rubble-built with stugged ashlar margins, leading to a courtyard. A drum staircase is present in the re-entrant angle to the rear, with a timber-headed dormer breaking the eaves.

The pub front has timber-framed glazing, some of which is reproduction. The rear ranges have timber sash and case windows, predominantly with 12 panes. A modern, continuous timber fascia covers the roof, and grey slates are present at the rear, along with coped wallhead stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods are in place. Inside the pub, a view from 2002 revealed an original ribbed plaster ceiling with a moulded cornice. Cellars and basement storage are also present.