5 James Street, Portobello, Edinburgh

3 James Street in Edinburgh is a later 19th-century classical terrace building with later alterations and additions. It consists of two storeys and features two and six-bay blocks that are mirrored around the center. Numbers 3 and 4 are situated on higher ground, rising above numbers 5 and 6 at the wallhead. The ground floor is constructed of deeply-channelled ashlar, while the first floor is finished with droved ashlar. The side and rear elevations are made of squared and snecked rubble. Architectural details include a base course, a band course, a cill course at the first floor, a cornice, and a blocking course.

On the southeast (principal) elevation, each pair of buildings has Edinburgh panelled doors in the central bays, with plate glass rectangular fanlights and windows above on the first floor. There are windows in the flanking bays on both floors.

The northwest elevation features windows in the first and third bays at the first floor, along with single-storey extensions on either side, except for No 6, which has been replaced by a modern, painted, rendered extension with a platform roof.

The windows throughout are 4-pane timber sash and case. The roof is covered with purple slate and has ashlar skews, with end stacks that have octagonal cans. There is a downpipe recess between the paired properties.

The interior has not been seen since 1994, but it is noted that shutters are still in use. The boundary walls are made of droved ashlar with coping, and there is a tall rubble garden wall at the rear with semicircular coping for No 3.