Royal Bank Of Scotland Building, 28-30 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh

The Royal Bank of Scotland Building, located at 28-30 Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, was designed by T P Marwick and constructed between 1897 and 1898. This four-storey building with an attic features a two-by-four bay Free Renaissance corner tenement design, which includes a ground floor bank with a three-window corner bay and a distinctive polygonal tower. There is a two-storey flat-roofed extension to the west on Hill Place, where the outer bay forms a pyramidal tower at the top storey. As of 2007, the building houses both a bank and a university department.

The exterior is made of red sandstone, with a tall polished granite base course, a cill course, and deep moulded cornices at the ground, second, and third storeys. The building has square-plan plinths topped with tiered obelisks at the wallhead, and features segmental-headed dormers with balustrades.

Notable architectural details include a two-leaf timber panelled entrance door set at a splayed angle, adorned with a carved consoled doorpiece and flanked by elaborately carved niches. The ground floor has keystoned, semi-elliptical-arched openings separated by Doric pilasters, along with Diocletian windows that have timber transoms and Corinthian-column mullions. The third storey is distinguished by deep recessed keystoned round-arched window openings, separated by engaged Ionic columns.

The upper floors predominantly feature plate glass timber sash and case windows, while the third storey has casement windows. The ground floor has fixed plate glass. The roof is covered with green slates, and there are coped gable and ridge stacks, along with cast iron rainwater goods.

The interior, which was partially seen in 2007, is believed to have been comprehensively modernised.