169, 171, 173, 175, 177 Leith Walk, Edinburgh

This is an early 19th century tenement building located on Leith Walk and Smith’s Place in Edinburgh. The building is L-shaped, with the main facades facing both streets, and comprises three storeys and an attic. The frontages are constructed of sandstone ashlar, with smooth surfaces at ground and second floor levels. The south-west corner bays at ground and first floor levels have been painted. The rear and north elevations are of rubble construction with stone dressings. Later 19th century and modern shopfronts occupy the ground floor on the west elevation. A cornice and blocking course run along the eaves.

The west (Leith Walk) elevation has ten bays arranged symmetrically, with 4 bays followed by 2 bays, then another 4 bays at both the first and second floor levels. Blind windows are found in the second to last bay on the right side and above a pilastered entrance door in the centre right. A chimney gable with two windows sits above the centre bays. The upper half of the first-floor windows in bays 7 to 10 are obscured by a shop fascia.

The south (Smith’s Place) elevation turns at the corner as both a raised basement and a first-floor level. Six bays are present, with a pedimented gable end of the Leith Walk block spanning bays 1 to 3. Several bays are infilled, including the basement, the first and second bays, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth bays. The first (principal) floor features horizontal channelling with voussoirs and a band course above the windows. Blind windows are located in the second and third bays on the left. An entrance door within the third bay is accessed by a flight of stone steps that overhang the basement. The second-floor windows in bays 1 to 3 are architraved and corniced, with blind windows in the second and third bays. A cornice runs around the gable pediment and the eaves, above the regular fenestration in the three bays on the right.

The north elevation is windowless and has a cement render with lines at ground floor level. Evidence of former fireplace openings can be seen at the second floor and attic levels.

Plate glass and timber sash and case windows are present on the second floor of bays 6 to 10, as well as on the principal and first floors of the south elevation. Modern glazing is found elsewhere. A six-panelled door with glazed upper panels provides access to the common stair on the west elevation, while a four-panelled door with a radial fanlight is located on the south elevation. The roof is covered in grey slate, pitched to the north and piended at the south end, behind the chimney. Metal-clad box dormers are set over the fourth and sixth bays of the south elevation. Cast-iron gutters are located at the rear, with a downpipe in the re-entrant angle and another downpipe at the north-west corner from a concealed gutter. Corniced ashlar apex stacks are present on the south and west gables, cement-rendered and coped to the north, with a rubble wallhead stack at the rear, all topped with circular cans to the flues. Terrazzo-covered steps lead to the doorway on the south elevation, with a plain wrought-iron handrail.

A boundary wall of coursed rubble, surmounted by wrought-iron railing, is located to the south, enclosing a concrete-roofed cellar.