Macauley House, 2 Lauriston Gardens, Edinburgh

Macauley House, located at 2 Lauriston Gardens in Edinburgh, is a late 18th century house that underwent alterations in the 19th century. This two-storey and basement, three-bay house features classical details and is finished in cream-painted harl with painted ashlar dressings. The southern elevation has rusticated quoins above the basement, droved basement quoins, and an eaves course.

On the southern elevation, the openings have architraved margins, and there is a consoled pediment above the central door, which is a panelled door with a plate glass fanlight. The steps leading to the door oversail the basement recess. There is a basement window below the stair and in the flanking bays, with a later bipartite window to the left. The ground floor features bipartite windows flanking the door, while each bay on the first floor has a window.

The eastern and western elevations each have three bays and were slightly advanced in the 19th century, standing proud of the quoins. The western elevation has narrow windows in the centre at each floor.

The northern elevation also consists of three bays, with a door to the right of centre in the basement and three windows; each bay has windows at the ground and first floors.

The house features a glazing pattern of 4-pane and 12-pane sash and case windows. It has a grey slate piended roof with piended dormers linked between paired end stacks, which are tall and made of ashlar.

The boundary walls and railings include a decorative cast-iron balustrade for the basement steps and wrought-iron railings for the recess. The boundary and retaining walls are made of ashlar-coped rubble and squared and snecked sandstone, with two corniced and ball-finialled piers to the west. There is a corniced and platformed droved ashlar pier, which is stop-chamfered at the corner and inscribed 'Lauriston Gardens.' The northern side has simple rusticated ashlar gatepiers, with a boarded timber door in an ashlar surround under a swept archway with moulded coping to the west.