12, 14, 16 Howe Street, Edinburgh

12, 14, 16 Howe Street is a terraced tenement building in Edinburgh, designed by Robert Reid and William Sibbald between 1802 and 1808. It is three stories tall with an attic and features seven bays. The exterior is made of broached ashlar sandstone, with V-jointed rustication on the principal floor. There are band courses at the first and second floors, projecting cills at the first-floor windows, and a cornice with a blocking course at the second floor.

The principal elevation includes a common stair door in the center at the principal floor, which is a nine-panel door with a blind rectangular fanlight above it. To the left, there is a four-bay shop front with a dentilled cornice and consoles, which is slightly advanced. This shop front features a nine-panel door and a plate glass rectangular fanlight to the outer right, alongside a modern glazed door flanked by plate glass windows to the left and a plate glass window on the south return. To the right, there is a three-bay pilastered shop front that is also slightly advanced, featuring a seven-panel door to the outer left, a plate glass rectangular fanlight, a modern glazed door to the right, and a plate glass window in the center.

The north elevation, facing Jamaica Street, has three bays and is constructed of random rubble with polished dressings. It features blind windows on the principal floor, with a window centered at the first and second floors flanked by blind windows, and a small window to the outer left in the attic.

The building has predominantly twelve-pane timber sash and case windows, with a polygonal piended dormer to the right, box dormers to the left, and a rectangular dormer to the outer left. The roof is covered with grey slate in an M shape, and there are cast-iron rainwater goods. A part-shouldered gablehead stack is present, coped with circular cans.

The interiors were not seen in 1997. The property is also noted for its railings, which consist of ashlar copes topped with decorative cast-iron railings featuring balusters.