28 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

28 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

Number 28 Royal Terrace is part of an extremely long 121-bay palace front terrace of townhouses designed by William Playfair between 1820 and 1824. This particular house was built between 1823 and the early 1830s and is listed at Grade A.

The terrace presents a highly composed facade with an arched and rusticated ground floor. The central section features three 3-storey and attic Corinthian colonnaded pavilions. To the left and right are flanking 3-storey balustraded sections with 3-storey and attic Ionic colonnaded pavilions. The outer edges to left and right comprise 2-storey balustraded sections, with basements running beneath all houses.

Number 28 itself is a 3-bay, 3-storey and basement townhouse. The basement is finished in painted droved ashlar; the ground floor features V-chamfered rustication; the upper floors are of polished ashlar. The rear elevation is predominantly coursed squared rubble with dressed margins. The principal elevation includes a base course, a dividing band between basement and ground floor, an impost course to the ground floor, a dividing band between ground and 1st floors, and to the 1st floor a narrow band course broken by windows to each bay. Band courses sit above the 2nd floor, with an eaves cornice and balustraded parapet at the top. Round-headed openings in round-headed overarches light the ground floor.

To the principal (north) elevation, the basement contains a segmentally headed window to the right bay and a timber panelled door with 3-light fanlight to the centre bay. The left bay has its area under the platt blocked in with a wall containing 3 windows. At ground floor level, the left bay features steps and a platt (conjoined with those of No 29) overarching the basement recess and leading to a timber-panelled door with flanking margin lights and a segmental fanlight with petal style glazing. The 1st floor windows are fitted with cast-iron balconettes. The rear (south) elevation is a 2-bay, 3-storey and basement elevation with a band course dividing ground and 1st floors, an eaves cornice and blocking course. A timber and glazed conservatory extends to the ground floor.

The windows are predominantly fitted with 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. The principal elevation has 17-pane glazing to the ground floor and 15-pane glazing to the 1st floor. The roof is M-shaped with a central valley, finished in graded grey slate with stone skews and skewputts. To the west sits a mutual corniced ashlar ridge stack surmounted by linked octagonal flues to the principal elevation, with predominantly circular cans.

To the front, cast-iron railings with dog bars and spear-head finials and a distinctive circled border edge the basement recess and platt, mounted on stone coping. To the rear, a random rubble boundary wall with predominantly flat coping encloses the garden.

The interior retains substantial high-quality finishes. The ground floor lobby features a polished stone floor, a niche to the left wall, good plasterwork and a compartmented ceiling. This leads through to an inner hall with a glazed door and screen fitted with a pilastered and corniced doorpiece. The former dining room has good plasterwork and a classical grey stone fireplace with corniced doorpieces. A rear room features an apsidal end and good plasterwork. The 1st floor comprises an L-shaped former drawing room with a classical timber chimneypiece and good plasterwork including wall borders; a rear room (west) with good simple plasterwork and a classical painted stone chimneypiece; and a rear room (east) with a simple cornice. The stairs and landings are particularly notable, with an oval cupola above the stairs, cast-iron balusters, good plasterwork, and a liberal use of shallow relief foliate frieze to the walls and sides of landings, with shallow relief decoration to the underside of landings and stairs.