12-14 Castle Street, Edinburgh

The building at 10-10A Castle Street, Edinburgh, comprises a pair of former classical houses dating after 1792, with later alterations. It is a three-storey building with a basement and attic, originally seven bays wide, and with flats located above. A modern shop has been built out at ground level to number 14. The building is constructed of droved cream sandstone ashlar, with polished dressings; the four bays on the left have been cleaned. The ground floor features arcaded V-jointed rustication, long and short rusticated quoins, and a recessed central bay that provides access to a common stair. A band course sits above the ground floor, and a lintel course is present at the first floor. The eaves are defined by a dentil cornice. At the second floor, there are blind windows in the centre of the flanking blocks. The doorpiece to number 10 is richly carved, featuring fluted pilasters and a plate glass fanlight. The ground and first floor windows of the original house have stop-chamfered upper sashes. Two early 19th-century bowed dormers, one wider than the other, are slate-hung on the left side. A full-width, 20th-century slate-hung box dormer is present at number 14, featuring a tripartite window on the left and a canted window on the right.

Timber sash and case windows are used throughout, with 12 panes to number 10 and plate glass to number 14, and multi-pane windows in the attic. Ashlar coped skews are visible on the outer walls. A mutual stone apex stack is present on the south side, rendered, while smaller rendered stacks are located on the inner walls. The roof is covered with grey slates.

The interior of number 10 retains an enriched ceiling in the entrance hall, though it has been altered by a 19th-century glazed screen. A pilastered archway leads to a central curved, cantilevered stair, open to the basement, with decorative cast-iron banisters that alternate in design. The stair was extended with a dog-leg section to the second floor. The former dining room features a fluted pilastered sideboard recess, a panelled dado, and a black slate chimneypiece. A rear left room has a similar recess. At the first floor, 19th-century alterations created a two-bay drawing room, featuring a panelled dado, a contemporary grey marble chimneypiece, cornice, and double doors to the rear left room. Number 14 has been considerably altered to create retail premises, with a rear extension. Jacobean ceilings survive at ground level, while suspended ceilings are present at the first floor. Remnants of a 19th-century stair with cast-iron barley twist banisters remain, along with vestigial remains of an enriched entrance hall ceiling. Originally, the building provided four flats, two on each floor, accessed from the common stair.

Cast-iron spearhead railings enclose the area and steps.