81, 83 Grassmasket, Edinburgh

81 and 83 Grassmarket in Edinburgh is a four-storey, two-bay tenement block designed by John Lessels in 1875, featuring Scots Baronial details. The ground floor accommodates shops, while the third-floor windows are set in gabletted crow-stepped gables topped with decorative wrought-iron finials. The building is constructed of coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings, and all openings have chamfered reveals. The shopfronts feature shoulder-arched openings and are flanked by cast-iron columns between the windows. The central entrance has a two-leaf timber panelled storm door with a plate glass fanlight above.

Moulded cill courses are present at the first and third floors, with bipartite windows on the first and second floors, and in the right bay on the third floor. The left bay features corbelled out sections for the first and second floors. A bracketed cornice is located at the first floor, and there is a moulded depressed arch above the right window on the first floor. The third floor has a corbelled course at the cill level, with a hoodmoulded tripartite window to the left and shields in the gables.

The windows are fitted with 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. The roof features stone skews, grey slates, and corniced ridge stacks with decorative circular cans.