Post Office, 57, 57B Constitution Street, Edinburgh

The building is a post office located at 57 and 57B Constitution Street in Edinburgh, designed by Robert Matheson in 1875. It is a two-storey and attic structure with five bays, featuring a basement that opens onto Mitchell Street and includes rear additions.

The exterior is made of cream sandstone with a polished ashlar front, while the sides are constructed from coursed and squared rubble with stugged dressings. The rear has squared and snecked stugged rubble, along with a later stair tower extension. Architectural details include a band cill course at the ground floor, a console-bracketted eaves cornice, and a panelled ashlar parapet with a central balustraded section that has urn finials. The windows are architraved, with bracketted cills on the first floor, channelled quoins, and principal openings at the ground floor that feature consoled segmental pediments.

On the northwest (front) elevation, there are three central bays framed by pilasters, with a window that was formerly a door in the centre, flanked by single windows above. There is a blank pedimented ashlar panel at the balustrade. The outer bays have pedimented openings at the ground floor, including a doorway to the right, and single windows on the first floor above, along with French port-hole dormers.

The northeast (Mitchell Street) elevation consists of three bays with single windows and a central tall shouldered wallhead stack linked to the roof. There is a single bay later stair tower with a tall parapet on the outer left.

The southeast (rear) elevation features a large three-storey brick-built addition, with single windows in the left bay of the main block and a French port-hole dormer.

The windows are timber sash and case with plate glass glazing. The roof is slate with a piend and platform design, featuring a gabled glazed cupola and two wallhead stacks, as well as two additional wallhead stacks on the rear additions.

Inside, the post office has plain cornices and cast-iron columns in the main office area. A low ashlar wall at the front frames a raised access platform, which is complemented by squat gatepiers and concentric cast-iron railings.