1, 3, 5, 7, 9 Bernard Street, Edinburgh

1, 3, 5, 7, 9 Bernard Street is a five-storey curved corner tenement block built between 1815 and 1816 by architect William Lamb, with Nos 11 and 13 added shortly after 1817, possibly raised by two storeys. The building features shops on the ground floor and is constructed of grey sandstone, with polished ashlar on the ground, first, and second floors, and stugged ashlar above, while the rear is made of coursed rubble.

The shopfronts have a continuous fascia and cornice, separated by shallow strip pilasters, except for the corner shop. The first floor has a cill course, and there is a sawtooth string course below the third floor. A band cill course is present at the fourth floor, except for the curved corner, and the eaves cornice is also sawtooth. The first-floor windows are architraved and corniced, with alternately pilastered detailing.

On the northeast elevation facing Bernard Street, there are ten bays, each with single windows on every floor, except for a blank bay fourth from the right. There is a short wallhead stack on the outer left. The common stair doorways for Nos 3 and 13 feature panelled doors with rectangular plate glass fanlights. Nos 5, 7, and 11 have modern replacement shopfronts, while No 9 has a late 19th-century shopfront with a recessed doorway in the centre and slender mullions. No 1 is divided from the curved corner by three pilasters and retains its original pilastered shopfront arrangement with smaller windows.

The east elevation facing Constitution Street has six bays, including a three-bay curved corner on the right. The corner bays feature tall single windows, and the ground floor has the original shopfront arrangement with small outer windows flanked by single Ionic columns, and paired Ionic columns flanking the centre door, with 'Waterloo Buildings?' inscribed in the frieze above. The bays to the left have single windows above two shopfronts that also retain their original arrangement, with multi-pane shop windows surviving at No 32.

The south and west elevations include a projecting stairtower to the left and centre, with a gabled bay on the outer left and M-gabled bays with apex stacks on the outer right. The building has 12-pane timber sash and case windows, a slate roof with lead flashings, and features two apex and one wallhead stack.

Inside, there are tiled closes and a rear stone staircase with cast-iron balusters and timber handrails.