6 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh

4 Rothesay Terrace in Edinburgh is a classical terrace built by John Watherston and Sons between 1855 and 1856. This structure features a unified façade of four-storey and basement townhouses, with main-door and common stair flats located behind. To the west, there is a two-storey and basement angled block topped with a corniced eaves course. The basement area includes some vaulted cellars and retaining walls.

The building is constructed from sandstone ashlar, with a channelled design at the ground floor. It has two-storey, three-light, corniced canted bays, a banded base course, and a corniced and banded string course that incorporates a doorpiece entablature. The corniced eaves course adds to the overall elegance. The raised and moulded doorpiece connects to a pedimented and architraved window above on the first floor. The ground floor of the two-storey block features moulded architraved surrounds to the windows, with a blank recessed panel beneath the moulded cills. The canted bays also have moulded architraved surrounds at the ground and first floors. The second floor boasts corniced cills with scrolled aprons and corniced tripartite windows. The third floor has four shouldered architraved windows with corniced cills, some of which have brackets; three cills have been removed to No. 6.

On the west elevation, there is a prominent shouldered wallhead stack on the main gable, with banded string courses. The two-storey block has a single off-centre window at the first floor, with recessed rainwater goods to the right. The gable end features three banded architraved windows on each floor, with flanking windows that are blind. A small cast-iron balcony is located at the centre of the third floor.

The north (rear) elevation rises five storeys and is roughly six bays wide, constructed from squared coursed rubble with ashlar quoins. It has regular fenestration with ashlar cills, lintels, and rybats, and features five-storey canted bays at every third bay.

The windows predominantly consist of plate glass in timber sash and case designs. The roof is a double pitch M-section style, with corniced ashlar stacks topped with modern clay cans. The basement recess to the street is edged with ashlar coping stone and features cast-iron railings, along with cast-iron rainwater goods.