21 Castle Street, Edinburgh

25-29, 29A Castle Street is a classical tenement building constructed between 1792 and 1794. It features three storeys, a basement, and an attic, with five symmetrical bays. The ground floor houses a restaurant, while shops occupy the basement, with the southern section extending into the basement area.

The Castle Street elevation is made of droved cream ashlar sandstone with polished dressings, showcasing regular window arrangements. There is a pilastered doorpiece at the center, an eaves cornice, and a pair of piend-roofed dormers at the outer bays.

On the Rose Street elevation, the irregular rubble gable has had a large stack removed. A mid-19th century decoratively glazed window remains on the left side of the ground floor.

The building features timber sash and case 12-pane windows, with some plate glass on the gable. The skews are ashlar coped, and there is a rendered mutual stack to the north, topped with grey slates.

Inside, the shops and restaurant have been thoroughly adapted from their original layout, which consisted of a single flat on each floor. On the first floor, there is a later glazed screen (currently not in use) and a slapped entrance leading to a former two-bay drawing room in the southwest, which includes a panelled dado and a very fine carved and painted chimneypiece beneath a swagged cornice. The northwest room, formerly a dining room, also has a fine chimneypiece and a recess that has been subdivided. Access has been created to No 23, which is listed separately. The rear features two plainer chimneypieces. The second floor has been subdivided, with an elegant inner lobby. The two-bay southwest room retains a panelled dado and a very fine carved and painted chimneypiece adorned with swags and flower baskets, while the southeast room has a plainer chimneypiece. There is a single flat in the attic.