45 George Street, Edinburgh

45 George Street in Edinburgh is a classical former house built around 1775, which was refaced and had an extra storey added by Thomas Hamilton in 1829. The building underwent further alterations by Covell Matthews Partnership in 1974. It stands four storeys tall with an attic and has three bays, constructed from polished cream sandstone ashlar.

The ground floor features a four-bay fluted Ionic colonnade that screens a glazed shopfront behind it. The windows on the first and second floors have a moulded cill course and architraves, with cornices on the first floor and three flag poles. Above, there is a dentilled cornice, and the third floor has windows set in square recesses, accompanied by another cornice and a blocking course.

The building has a dressed stone elevation facing the lane, which is four storeys high with a raised basement and a modern double mansard attic. The timber windows include four-pane casements on the first floor and 12-pane sash and case windows on the upper floors. The roof features ashlar coped skews, a corniced stone stack on the east side, and a rendered stack on the west side, all covered with grey slates.

Inside, the interior is outstanding but has been significantly modernised. It includes a retreating pair of rooms that are divided by a screen of paired Ionic columns, with a domed saloon located at the rear.