5 North St David Street, Edinburgh

5 North St David Street, Edinburgh

This is a Grade A building comprising two originally identical three-storey classical houses with basement and attic storeys, built in 1775 probably by John Young following a scheme by William Chambers. The building has undergone significant alterations and modernisation: ground floor changes in 1845 (No. 21) and 1848 and 1854 (No. 22, designed by David Bryce, Peddie & Kinnear), restoration and adaptation by Covell Matthews Partnership between 1976 and 1980, and further modernisation by McGurn Logan Duncan & Opher in 1992.

The structure is built of coursed sandstone rubble, formerly rendered, with polished ashlar dressings and droved ashlar to the North St David Street elevation. Long and short quoins mark the corner, with channelled pilaster strips between the blocks and moulded eaves. Moulded architraves and a first floor cill course run along the St Andrews Square elevation, which are original to the upper floors.

The St Andrews Square elevation shows each house in a four-bay arrangement with a broader inner bay, particularly pronounced on No. 22. No. 21 has a ground floor refaced in polished ashlar with a Roman Doric triglyph frieze and entablature, with steps leading to a columned porch at the centre right bay (featuring a flagpole) containing a two-leaf panelled door. Architraves continue to the base course, framing panelled aprons, and a further panelled door with blind fanlight occupies the right bay. No. 22 displays similar later architraves and aprons at ground level; its left bay features a fluted Corinthian columned porch with a two-leaf panelled door, an elaborate frieze and pediment with carved tympanum, and an additional window to the outer left.

The North St David Street elevation comprises a five-bay gable with a two-bay wing to the left. The two right bays of the gable contain blind windows, with two windows in the gablehead. The partly raised basement of the left wing features a corniced ashlar shopfront of early 19th-century date, composed of two two-bay shops each with a large window and an elaborate two-leaf panelled cast-iron door. Steps flanked by cast-iron Shotts pedestals with urn finials descend to street level. Two three-storey basement and attic former tenement facades step down to the north, displaying five and four bays respectively, with a corniced doorpiece at centre (centre right) and piend-roofed dormers to each bay.

The North St Andrews Lane elevation shows a cleaned rubble gable to the right with irregular fenestration, and a modern five-storey block to the left receding at each storey, featuring ashlar and window bands with vehicular access at ground level leading to a courtyard within.

Throughout the building, timber sash and case windows with twelve panes predominate. The roof is finished in grey slates with ashlar coped skews and rebuilt mutual ashlar stacks (rendered between Nos. 22 and 23).

The interior has been substantially altered for office use, though some cornices and detailing survive. The two northern blocks now function primarily as facades for modern offices. No. 21 retains an elegant plate glass inner porch opening directly into the front room, which features a fluted Corinthian columned screen and corniced doors with clasping pilasters, with a compartmented ceiling. A similar ceiling appears in the room beyond. The first floor front room preserves a panelled dado. A staircase occupies the right bay at the front. No. 22 contains a 19th-century stair at the centre rear serving only to the first floor, with barleytwist banisters, and an apsidal-ended room at the second floor. The basement to North St David Street, formerly shops, retains a remarkable doorcase and cast-iron ranges and chimneypieces.

Cast-iron railings with spearhead details border the North St David Street elevation, with 19th-century balusters to No. 21 and elaborate railings to No. 22.