27 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

27 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

William Playfair designed this building between 1820 and 1824, with No 27 constructed between 1823 and the early 1830s. It forms part of an extremely long palace-front terrace of 121 bays containing townhouses. The terrace features an arched and rusticated ground floor. At the centre stands a 3-storey section with attic, punctuated by three 3-storey and attic Corinthian colonnaded pavilions. To the left and right, flanking 3-storey balustraded sections lead to 3-storey sections with 3-storey and attic Ionic colonnaded pavilions. Two-storey balustraded sections occupy the outer left and right positions. All houses have basements.

The principal elevation uses droved ashlar to the basement, V-chamfered rustication to the ground floor, and polished ashlar to the upper floors. The rear elevation is predominantly coursed squared rubble with dressed margins. The principal elevation features a base course, a dividing band between basement and ground floor, an impost course to the ground floor, a dividing band between ground and first floors, and to the first floor, a narrow band course broken by a window to each bay. Fenestration is regular to the principal elevation and predominantly regular to the rear elevation. The ground floor has round-headed openings in round-headed overarches.

The principal north elevation presents a 3-bay, 3-storey elevation with basement and attic. The basement contains a segmentally-headed window to the right and a timber-panelled door with a 3-light segmental fanlight to the centre. To the right, an area under a platt is blocked by a wall containing a window and glazed door. The ground floor features a right-hand bay with steps and platt overarching the basement recess, leading to a timber-panelled door with flanking margin lights and a segmental sunburst fanlight. The first floor has cast-iron balconettes to the windows, with giant attached Corinthian columns dividing the bays and supporting an entablature between the second and attic floors. Pilasters divide the bays to the attic floor, with a blind window to the centre bay. An eaves cornice and blocking course complete the elevation.

The rear south elevation is 2-bay and 3-storey with basement and attic. It features a band course dividing the ground and first floors, a cornice and band course dividing the second and attic floors, and an eaves cornice.

Glazing is predominantly 12-pane, with 17-pane glazing to the ground floor and 15-pane glazing to the first floor of the principal elevation. The glazing is predominantly set in timber sash and case windows. The roof is M-pitched with a central valley, covered in graded grey slate with stone skews and skewputts. To the east is a gable-head stack, and to the west a mutual corniced ridge stack, with predominantly circular cans throughout.

The front railings edge the basement recess and platt with stone coping surmounted by cast-iron railings featuring dog bars, spear-head finials and a distinctive circled border. To the rear, a random rubble wall with flat coping forms the boundary of the garden.

The interior of the ground floor includes a lobby with a good geometric-tiled floor and a niche to the left wall. The plasterwork is of high quality, featuring panel borders to the wall and a classical equestrian relief above the inner door. A compartmented ceiling leads to the inner hall, which has a modern 2-leaf glazed door with a pilastered doorpiece. The former dining room features ornate plasterwork and a white marble classical chimneypiece with tiled cheeks to the hearth—the same tiles appear at No 28 and may be original. The remainder of the ground floor has been much altered. A cast-iron chimneypiece is located in a rear room.

The stairs and landings feature an oval cupola above the stairs with a deep cavetto surround and a Classical frieze below. The plasterwork to the stairs and landings is of good quality, with cast-iron balusters and small niches to the stairwell wall at each quarter-landing.