8 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

Number 8 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

William Playfair designed this terrace between 1820 and 1824, and number 8 was built between 1823 and the early 1830s. It forms part of an exceptionally long 121-bay palace-front terrace of townhouses.

The building presents a highly formal composition. The ground floor features arched and rusticated openings. The centre of the terrace rises to a 3-storey section punctuated by three 3-storey pavilions with attics and Corinthian colonnaded features. To the left and right, flanking 3-storey balustraded sections lead to further 3-storey sections with Ionic colonnaded pavilions of 3 storeys and attic. The outer left and right portions are 2-storey balustraded sections. All houses have basements.

The stonework reflects careful gradation of finish: droved ashlar to the basement; V-chamfered rustication to the ground floor; polished ashlar to the upper floors; and predominantly coursed squared rubble with dressed margins to the rear elevation. The principal elevation displays a base course, a dividing band between basement and ground floor, an impost course to the ground floor, a dividing band between the ground and first floors, and to the first floor a narrow band course broken by windows to each bay. Fenestration is regular to the principal elevation and predominantly regular to the rear elevation. The ground floor features round-headed openings set within round-headed overarches.

The principal north elevation is 3 bays wide, 3 storeys tall with basement and attic. To the basement are windows to the left and right bays; the centre bay has a timber-panelled door with a 3-light fanlight, all within segmentally-headed openings. The ground floor features steps and a platt overarching a basement recess to the left bay, leading to a 2-leaf timber-panelled door with flanking leaded coloured margin lights and a segmental fanlight. The first floor is divided by giant attached Ionic columns supporting an entablature between the second and attic floors; pilasters divide the bays to the attic floor. An eaves cornice and blocking course finish the composition.

The south rear elevation is 3 bays wide across 3 storeys with basement and attic, reducing to 2 bays to the basement and ground floors and extending to 2 bays to the upper floors. A band course divides the ground and first floors; a cornice and band course divide the second and attic floors. An eaves cornice and blocking course complete the elevation. The centre bay has an unsympathetic rendered extension running the full height, excluding the attic.

The glazing is predominantly plate glass. To the principal elevation, windows feature 4-pane glazing to the ground and first floors and 12-pane glazing to the basement, mostly in timber sash and case windows. The roof is M-pitched with central valleys, covered in graded grey slate with stone skews and skewputts. To the east are mutual corniced ridge stacks; to the west, a gable-head stack; flues are predominantly circular cans.

To the front, cast-iron railings with dog bars, spear-head finials and a distinctive circled border surmount stone coping, edging the basement recess and platt. To the rear, a random rubble boundary wall with flat coping encloses the garden, with the south end surmounted by cast-iron railings.

The interior of the ground floor comprises a lobby with a small timber entry lobby and secondary outer door, featuring a compartmented ceiling, good plasterwork and pilasters defining the opening to the stair hall. The former dining room has good ornate cornicing and a ceiling rose, with a black slate chimneypiece. The rear room to the west displays good ornate cornicing and a black slate chimneypiece. The first floor features a former drawing room with a white marble chimneypiece, good ornate cornicing and ceiling rose. The rear room to the west has good ornate cornicing and a ceiling rose, a grey marble chimneypiece and two corniced doorpieces. The second and third floors are predominantly finished with good plain cornicing and some painted stone chimneypieces. Stone cantilevered stairs with ornate cast-iron balusters rise through the building; above the stairwell is an oval cupola within a cross-vaulted ceiling, with plain moulded plasterwork to the stairwell ceiling and landings.