Public Lavatories, Bath Street, Portobello, Edinburgh

The building comprises public lavatories and a four-story commercial building on Bath Street and Portobello High Street, Portobello, Edinburgh, dating to approximately 1910. The building was later extended with public lavatories designed by the City Architect's Office in 1924.

The main, southwest-facing elevation is four bays wide and features shops at ground floor with later shop fronts. Windows are present on each upper floor, with bipartite windows in the third bay. The fourth bay has windows that break the eaves at the third floor, incorporating a round-headed pediment. A canted window is located on the outer left, also breaking the eaves at the third floor. A canted angle window above the main entrance also breaks the eaves at the third floor, with a moulded mutuled course between the first and second floors. The original two-leaf panelled door is located at No. 162 Portobello High Street.

The southeast-facing elevation has shop windows on the ground floor to the outer left bay and outer right. The first bay above ground level is blank. Windows are present on each of the central bays, and a full-height canted window extends to the outer right, again breaking the eaves at the third floor.

The building is constructed from bull-faced red sandstone, with contrasting polished dressings; polished granite appears to the lower section of the ground floor of No. 162, while the NW elevation and rear are harled. Features include a base course, moulded band courses between the ground and first floors, and between the second and third floors, an eaves course, long and short quoins. The windows are predominantly timber sash and case windows with a six-pane upper sash and a two-pane lower sash, although some have been replaced with timber/plastic plate glass sash and case windows. The roof is covered in grey slate, with a platform to the rear and red terracotta decorative ridge tiles. Each canted window has a piended roof, and the corner canted window is topped with a ball finial. The central bays have a gablehead with a sandstone coped stack (on the SW elevation), and a crow-stepped half-gable is present on the first bay (SE elevation). A crenellated and dentilled parapet is found at eaves in the centre bays of the southeast-facing elevation. A mirrored gable and stack are located between the third and fourth bays. Coped wallhead stacks are situated on the NW and NE elevations.

The interior of the commercial building was not inspected in 1994.

The public lavatories are a single-story, four-bay building constructed from polished red sandstone. They feature a base course, moulded cill course, fascia, and coped parapet. Segmental-arched windows are positioned in the central bays, while shouldered openings leading to recessed entrances (for male and female lavatories) are located in the outer bays, each with a segmental-arched window on either side of the internal recess wall. The original doors retain glazed upper sections and multi-pane fanlights. The hopper windows are timber, with a small-pane upper section and a two-pane lower section. The parapet is raised in the outer bays with an arrow-slit in each. The interior of the lavatories has had all original fittings removed.