5, 7 Nelson Street, Edinburgh

5 and 7 Nelson Street in Edinburgh is a terraced tenement building designed by Robert Reid and William Sibbald in 1812. It is four storeys tall with a basement and features a four-bay façade. The exterior is constructed of broached ashlar sandstone, with V-jointed rustication at the principal floor. There are various band courses at the principal and first floors, projecting cills and a continual cornice at the second floor, and a cornice with a blocking course at the third floor. The entrance includes ashlar steps and platts that extend over the basement.

On the west elevation, there is a six-panel timber common stair door to the right at the principal floor, which has a radial rectangular fanlight above it. To the right in the penultimate bay, there is a round-arched doorpiece featuring a six-panel timber door and a plate glass semicircular fanlight. The remaining bays at the principal floor have windows, while the upper floors and basement display regular fenestration. The basement area is flagged.

The north elevation adjoins another terrace, which is listed separately (9-13 Nelson Street), and the south elevation also adjoins a terrace listed separately (8, 8A-20 Abercromby Place).

The building predominantly features 12-pane timber sash and case windows, and there is a balcony that spans the bays at the third floor. The roof is a grey slate M-roof, with cast-iron rainwater goods and a rendered gablehead stack that is coped and has circular cans.

The interiors were not seen in 1997, but there is some evidence of working panelled shutters. The property is also adorned with ashlar copes topped by iron railings that have spear-headed balusters, along with a cast-iron lamp mounted on the railing featuring a glass globe.