Gates And Railings, Forecourt To 1 And 2 Thistle Court With Boundary Walls, Thistle Street, Edinburgh

1 Thistle Court is a pair of semi-detached classical houses built between 1767 and 1768. They are two stories high with an attic and consist of two bays. The exterior is made of sandstone rubble, some of which is red, with ashlar dressings. The houses feature panelled doors with moulded architraves, paired at the center beneath a single pediment that includes a central wrought-iron lamp bracket. The fanlights have arcaded Gothick astragals. Each house is flanked by two bays, with larger windows on the first floor. There is an eaves cornice, and to the right, there are two early 19th-century slate-hung bowed dormers that are slightly set into the roof, while a similar but broader dormer is found on the left. A later piend-roofed bipartite dormer is located to the center left. The gable end is irregular and features windows at the center. The rear elevation has significant additions and two dormers. The windows are timber sash and case with 12 panes. The houses have ashlar coped skews, grey slates, and stone stacks that are rendered to the south.

Inside, the houses have been combined into a single office space, with one stair removed. A surviving cantilevered stone stair features turned and blocked banisters. Some interior details remain, such as a panelled dado and cornices. The 19th-century alterations include marble and cast-iron chimneypieces, as well as a consoled doorpiece at the first-floor landing with a radiating fanlight. There is a barrel-vaulted room at the rear on the ground floor.

The forecourt is enclosed by ashlar coped rubble walls and features iron gates with thistle fretwork. Ashlar footings and modern railings indicate the site of a former well.