25, 26, 27, 28, 29 Elm Row, Edinburgh

This is a late 19th-century, classical-style building constructed in 1885 by George Beattie and Sons, situated on a sloping corner site at the junction of Montgomery Street, Elm Row, and Montgomery Street in Edinburgh. The building occupies a wedge-shaped plot and features a steep mansard roof. The primary corner elevation has five bays, while the elevations facing Elm Row and Montgomery Street each have four bays. It is built of polished ashlar stone, although the ground floor cladding is largely out of character with the rest of the construction. The rear elevation utilizes coursed squared rubble with dressed margins.

The ground floor incorporates projecting shops with a decorative cornice and blocking course. A cill course is present at the third-floor level. The fenestration is generally regular, although the ground floor now features modern shopfronts. Above the ground floor, windows are architraved, except in the canted bays. Segmental-headed dormers are located within the mansard roof.

The principal south-west elevation has a slightly bowed central section, flanked by canted single bays which return to Elm Row and Montgomery Street. A prominent canted bay window extends from the first to the third floor in the central section. Dividing bands separate the first and second floors, and the second and third floors. A cornice runs between the second and third floors and between the third floor and the attic. The parapet is punctuated by a base course and cornice. Flanking pilasters are present on the first and second floors of the outer left and right bays, while panelled pilasters decorate the third floor. The attic features a tripartite window with pilastered mullions, incorporated into the wallhead stacks with a continuous cornice and topped by an ornate panel and segmental pediment. Dormer windows break through the parapet on the outer right and left bays.

The north-west elevation has a canted bay window from the first to the third floor, located in the third bay from the left. Corniced windows are found on the first and second floors, excluding the canted bay. Dividing bands separate the first and second floors, and the second and third floors of the canted bay. An eaves cornice and blocking course are also present on the canted bay. Dormer windows are present in the first, second, and fourth bays from the left, while the third bay from the left features a tripartite window with an extended cill course clasped between wallhead stacks.

The south-east elevation, facing Montgomery Street, has a timber-panelled door with a letterbox fanlight and an architraved doorpiece with a keystone in the space between the second and third bays. A canted bay window extends from the first to the third floor in the third bay from the left. Corniced windows are present on the first and second floors, excluding the canted bay. Dividing bands separate the first and second floors, and the second and third floors of the canted bay. An eaves cornice and blocking course are also present on the canted bay. Dormer windows are found in the first, second, and fourth bays from the left, while the third bay from the left presents a tripartite window with an extended cill course clasped between wallhead stacks.