21-23 Hill Street, Edinburgh

This is a substantial three-storey, four-bay classical building dating from 1788 to 1794, originally designed as a house and with a ground-floor flat. It was built for James Hill. The exterior is constructed of droved cream sandstone ashlar, which has been painted black, with polished dressings. A continuous cill course and eaves course run around the building. The eastern bay is slightly recessed and features a tripartite doorpiece with an acanthus frieze and cornice, leading to a pair of panelled doors at number 21. Number 23 has a Roman Doric pilastered and corniced doorpiece in the centre of the remaining bays, with a panelled door above, and an Orleans-Bourbon coat of arms sits above the first-floor window. A bipartite dormer window is located to the left. The rear elevation is of irregular coursed rubble, with the two right bays advanced and three-storey high, and the left bay two-storey and with a basement containing a large tripartite window on the second floor. The building has timber sash and case windows, some with plate glass, and others with four-pane and twelve-pane glass. Ashlar coped skews and stone stacks are present, with the west side rendered. The roof is covered in grey slates.

The interior of number 23 contains plain ground-floor offices with access to the hall of number 21. Number 21 features a low square hall separated by a 19th-century glazed timber screen, with a tiled floor and original cornices. A dog-leg staircase rises to the second floor, incorporating alternate decorative cast-iron banisters and a mahogany handrail. A full-width tripartite window is located on the first landing, and a very large similar window extends from the second landing to the ceiling, both retaining a substantial quantity of original glass. The first-floor landing provides access to an arch-shaped bay to the southeast which has a dado, plain chimney piece, and cornice. A former three-bay drawing room to the west has a panelled dado, shutters, and doors, alongside an original ceiling rose and cornice. A former dining room to the northwest has been subdivided and includes plaster panelled walls, a panelled dado and shutters, matching overdoors, a 19th-century grey marble chimney piece, and two large windows; the eastern window has decorative etched glass in the lower sash. On the second floor, a room with an apsidal end, to the immediate south of the staircase, features a domed oval ceiling with original plaster enrichments (swags around the rose) and a plain moulded chimney piece. A short flight of steps leads to the remainder of the floor, which contains two rooms with coved ceilings and plain chimney pieces. Two further full-height rooms are located to the rear, and a further internal staircase leads to the attic.