9 Oxford Terrace, Edinburgh

This is an extensive terrace of three- and four-storey townhouses with basement and attic levels built in 1855-59 by John Tait, with later alterations to the attic. The terrace comprises thirty bays and is constructed in an Italianate classical style, with projecting sections at numbers 4 and 8, and a more elaborate six-bay corner tenement pavilion. The buildings are set on ground that slopes to the northeast.

The townhouses are built from sandstone ashlar. The entrance platts overhang the basement area, creating a recessed effect from the street. The stonework includes a banded base course, a banded cill course at the first and second floors, and a moulded cill course at the third floor of the corner pavilion. Balconies, supported by large scrolled brackets with geometric cast-iron balustrades, are present on the first floor. A corniced and dentilled eaves course tops the buildings, with a balustraded parapet at number 4. The doorways are banded and feature predominantly timber, two-leaf, six-panel doors with rectangular fanlights, some of which have geometric glazing patterns. The ground floor windows have moulded, lugged architraves, while the first floor windows are moulded with alternating triangular and segmental pediments. The first floor windows at numbers 9 and 10 are corniced, and the first floor windows of the corner pavilion block are triangular pedimented, flanked by corniced windows. Deep bracketed cills are present beneath the moulded architraved second floor windows. A later tile-hung mansard roof is present at number 8, with various later attic dormers throughout the terrace.

The northeast (Lennox Street) elevation has three bays, with blind windows in the flanking bays. The southwest (rear) elevation is constructed from coursed squared rubble with some dressed ashlar quoins, rybats, cills, and lintels. The rear has regular window placement, with some paired windows on the first and second floors, and some canted three-light bay windows.

Most windows feature an eight-pane glazing pattern within timber sash and case frames, with twelve panes on the second floor. The roofs are double-pitched, covered in grey slates, and have corniced ashlar ridge and end stacks with octagonal clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods and cast-iron railings edge the basement area recess on the street.

The interiors, viewed in 2010, display a classical decorative scheme characterized by intricate plasterwork and large drawing rooms. Decorative cornicing is present in the entrance vestibules and principal rooms, along with ceiling roses and large marble fireplaces. Stone staircases include a well-detailed cast iron balustrade and a timber handrail, topped by large cupolas with decorative plasterwork beneath. Some of the buildings have been converted into flats.