1-3 Alva Street, Edinburgh

1-3 Alva Street in Edinburgh is a classical tenement and shop building designed by J Gillespie Graham in 1823 and executed by Robert Hutchinson. This four-storey structure features ten bays and is prominently located on a corner, with a curved and recessed single bay at the corner. The building has a basement area that includes some vaulted cellars and retaining walls along Alva Street. It is constructed from sandstone ashlar, with a channelled finish at the ground floor and a droved finish at the basement. There are banded cill courses at the first, second, and third floors, along with a corniced eaves course. The openings on the first and second floors are architraved and corniced.

The shop front at No. 14 Queensferry Street is advanced and features timber and plate glass, set over the basement and in channelled ashlar facing Alva Street. The round-arched doorways on Alva Street include some with radial glazing and some that are blind windows. The first floor has cast-iron bowed anthemion balconies.

The rear elevation is made of regular squared coursed rubble, with tooled ashlar rybats and lintels framing the openings, and it has regular fenestration. There are various later additions to the attic, and some boundary walls are retained with mews buildings along the Queensferry Street lane. The building has undergone various alterations to convert it to car parking, including the insertion of steel garage doors.

The ground floor shop fronts feature plate glass in timber frames, while the upper floors have 12-and 15-pane timber sash and case windows. The roof is covered with grey slates, and there are corniced ashlar wallhead stacks with modern clay cans. The building also has cast-iron rainwater goods.