143, 145, 147 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh

George Washington Browne designed these three curved tenement blocks (mansion flats) in 1887. The buildings comprise 34 storeys with attic accommodation, combining 17th-century and Queen Anne architectural details. Two of the blocks are corner tenements with shops at ground-floor level on the north-east side.

The buildings are constructed in cream sandstone ashlar. Details include a base course; rounded reveals to ground-floor windows; architraved windows on the first floor (with pediments), second floor (with cornices) and third floor; cill courses at first and third floors; eaves cornices and parapets; swept ashlar flanks to dormers with cornices and pediments; ashlar mullions; corniced doorways with roll-moulded surrounds and rectangular plate glass fanlights; panels of carved classical reliefs to shopfronts; and bull's-eye windows with cartouche surrounds.

North-West (Bruntsfield Place) Elevation

Numbers 131–141 present a 5-bay frontage (excluding the corner tower) with shops at ground floor featuring plain fascia, cornice and blocking course. Some shopfront fronts have been altered, though original doors with glazed oval panels survive at numbers 131 and 133. Above, the centre bay and the bay to its right have paired windows and bipartite dormers with triangular pediments. The bay to the left of centre has single windows and a semi-circular dormerhead. The outer left bay is blank with a shouldered wallhead stack. To the outer right, a 4-storey canted window breaks the eaves as a dormer with a finialled pyramidal roof.

Numbers 143–147 form a 5-bay tenement. The centre bay features bipartite windows and a bipartite dormer with segmental-arched pediment. The bay to the left of centre has a full-height canted window with parapet and bipartite dormer with triangular pediment. The bay to the right of centre contains three entrance doors linked under a cornice, with bipartite windows above and a bipartite dormer with segmental-arched pediment. Paired windows and a bipartite dormer with segmental-arched pediment appear in the outer left bay. The outer right bay has a full-height canted window with parapet and bipartite dormer with triangular pediment.

Numbers 149–151 comprise a 6-bay frontage (excluding the canted corner bay). Two advanced centre bays sit under a swept gable with segmental-arched pediment and bull's-eye window in the gablehead, above a full-height canted window to the left and single windows to the right, with a paired entrance door linked under a cornice. Paired windows with bipartite dormers and segmental-arched pediments occupy the bays to the left and right of centre. The outer left bay has single windows with a segmental-arched pedimented dormer. The outer right bay is blank with a single ground-floor window.

North-East (Forbes Road) Elevation

The elevation comprises three bays including a 5-sided corner tower, with shops at ground floor. A corner turret breaks the eaves with a finialled pyramidal roof to the outer right. Three sides of the tower have single windows; two sides have narrow blinded pedimented windows at first and second floors, with carved tablets (including a date stone and initials JS) at third-floor level.

The centre bay has paired windows with a bipartite dormer and open swan-neck pediment. The outer left bay features bipartite windows with an open pediment to the first-floor windows and a bipartite dormer with open swan-neck pediment.

South-West (Bruntsfield Gardens) Elevation

This 6-bay frontage includes a canted corner bay to the outer left, corbelled above ground floor and breaking the eaves with an ogee roof and cast-iron weathervane. A pedimented carved tablet commemorating the site of Greenfield House appears at ground floor.

The centre bay has single windows and a segmental-arched pedimented dormer. The bay to the left of centre contains a pedimented doorway with small single windows above and a segmental-arched pedimented dormer. Two advanced bays to the right stand under a pilastered and pedimented gable with swept ashlar flanks and bull's-eye window in the gablehead, above bipartite and single windows. The outer left bay is blank except for a bipartite ground-floor window and a corniced wallhead stack.

The buildings feature timber sash-and-case windows with plate glass glazing and smaller upper sashes. A green slate mansard roof covers the structures, with corniced mutual stacks featuring friezes. Moulded eaves gutters complete the external detailing.

Interior

The closes are tiled in Glasgow style. Open stairs feature cast-iron balustrades.

Setting

A low rubble boundary wall fronts numbers 143–151 and 2 Bruntsfield Gardens, with some plain cast-iron railings present.