Gayfield House, 18 East London Street, Edinburgh

Gayfield House, located at 18 East London Street in Edinburgh, is a large classical suburban mansion built between 1763 and 1765 by wrights Charles and William Butter. The building is two stories high, with an attic and basement, and features five bays. It is constructed from rubble with ashlar margins and was originally harled. The windows have projecting sills, lugged architraves, and cornices on the ground floor of the principal elevation. The design includes a pediment and an eaves cornice.

On the southeast (principal) elevation, the central three bays are slightly advanced and topped with a pediment. There is an Ionic columned doorpiece with a modillioned cornice, a shouldered architraved timber panelled door, and gothic glazing in the fanlight above. The remaining bays feature regular window fenestration, and there is an oculus in the tympanum of the pediment, along with urn finials. The basement has two windows on either side.

The northwest (rear) elevation consists of three bays, with a curved segmental-headed pilastered porch at the center and a blinded window above. The other bays have regular window arrangements.

The northeast (side) elevation also has three bays, with windows centered on each floor, a window to the left on the first floor, and a window to the right with blocked windows on the left at the second floor. It features a substantial shaped wallhead gable with a small round-headed window in the center.

The southwest (side) elevation mirrors this layout with three bays, having windows centered and to the right on both the first and second floors, and a similarly shaped wallhead gable with small round-headed windows in the center.

The windows throughout are timber sash and case with predominantly 12-pane glazing. The roof is grey slated with a piend and platform design, featuring gable-headed stacks with terracotta cans. Ashlar steps oversail the basement.

The interior, which was not seen in 1998, is noted to contain features of exceptional rarity and uncertain date, including papier mache ceilings in the vestibule and upper landing, and painted floorboards designed to imitate mahogany and satinised parquet, likely from the early 19th century. There is a geometrical staircase with turned balusters, although fine chimneypieces were stolen around 1990.

The boundary walls and gatepiers are later additions, constructed from harled stepped materials.