1 Milne's Court, 517 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

The building at 515 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, is a complex of tenements built around a square, dating primarily from 1690 by Robert Mylne, though it incorporates earlier fabric and has undergone substantial later alterations and restorations. Further reconstruction work was carried out by Ian G Lindsay and Partners between 1966 and 1970, and the building was partially restored by J A Williamson in 1914. The structure comprises three blocks, extending six storeys and an attic to the Lawnmarket frontage, six storeys, an attic, and a basement to the north, and five storeys, a basement, and an attic to the east. The Lawnmarket frontage is finished in ashlar stone, while the remainder is rubble with ashlar dressings.

The south block, which includes Philip Henman Hall, is a six-storey, twelve-bay tenement with shops and a public house on the ground floor. The fenestration is regular, although with some small, narrow windows on the outer right and left. Ten modern swept dormers penetrate the attic. A rusticated and pedimented flat-arched pend, dated 1690 and marking the entrance to Milne's Court, is centrally placed. The rear wallhead features an asymmetrical crowstepped gable with a chimney stack and two vertically arranged windows that break the eaves. Stone steps with bell-cast cast-iron railings lead to a raised door, protected by a metal grille, located within a corniced and moulded surround at Philip Henman Hall.

The east block is divided into two sections. The five-bay section on the right is regularly fenestrated; a door is located on the outer right, and the rear is constructed of brick. To the left is a slightly taller four-bay block, which incorporates a piend-roofed engaged octagonal stair tower in the second bay. A studded timber boarded door is set within a corniced, bolection-moulded surround. The rear elevation is pedimented and regularly fenestrated, with cast-iron railings enclosing the basement area. Six slated piend-roofed dormers are present in the attic.

The north (rear) block, housing Edward Salveson Hall, is five storeys with a basement and attic (rising to seven storeys and an attic at the rear), and extends across seven bays. The fenestration is regular, with small windows between the third and fourth bays from the right. Seven modern piend-roofed dormers light the attic. An arched pend, leading to the Mound, is located at basement level on the outer right. Stone steps and a platform overhang the basement, leading to a studded timber boarded door within a bolection-moulded surround featuring a flat ogee arch. Cast-iron railings border the basement area. A truncated single-bay gabled section is situated in the southwest corner, while the west features a five-bay crowstepped gable with a regularly fenestrated facade and a broad gablehead stack. The rear elevation consists of a regularly fenestrated roofline with broad gablehead stacks on the outer right and left, and three tall, crowstep-gabled dormerheaded windows centrally placed.

The windows throughout are predominantly timber sash and case with 12-pane glazing. Smaller windows above have leaded lights, with panelled shutters above and below. The roof is covered in grey slates, and stone skews display scrolled skewputts. Tall, corniced rubble end, wallhead, and ridge stacks are topped with circular cans.