96, 98 Portobello High Street, Portobello, Edinburgh

This building, located at 96 and 98 Portobello High Street in Edinburgh, dates from the early 19th century and has undergone later alterations. It is a two-storey structure with an attic, designed as a classical tenement with shops on the ground floor. It is situated at the end of a terrace on the corner of Portobello High Street and Figgate Street. The exterior features droved sandstone ashlar with polished ashlar dressings, which are painted on the southeast elevation, while the rear northeast elevation is harled. There is a base course, a band course between the ground and first floors (though obscured by fascias on the southwest side), a cill course at the first floor, and an eaves course.

On the southwest elevation facing Portobello High Street, there is a chamfered bay at the corner with an entrance to a shop at ground level, topped by a plate glass rectangular fanlight. Above this, at the first floor, is a window with a decorative cast-iron window guard. The bays are regularly spaced, with windows on each floor except for the outer left side, which has an entrance to a separate shop and a window immediately to the right.

The southeast elevation facing Figgate Street features widely spaced bays, with a window on each floor of each bay unless otherwise noted. The leftmost bay has a blank window at the first floor. The central bay has a consoled, pedimented doorway with a panelled, two-leaf door that has vents in the upper panels. Flanking windows have moulded architraves and raised cornices. Above the eaves, there is a later gablehead with a window on the outer right.

The first floor has 12-pane timber sash and case windows. The northwest elevation features later tripartite piended dormers on the outer bays. The roof is covered with grey slate, and there is a later mansard roof at the rear. A rendered and coped mutual stack is located on the outer left side. The interiors were not seen in 1994.