11, 12, 13 Queen Street, Edinburgh

Queen Street, Edinburgh: Numbers 11, 12 and 13

This is an irregular 11-bay classical tenement of about 1780, with basement and attic storeys, originally divided into three separate properties. Number 13 was altered in 1838 and remodelled by W L Moffat for himself in 1860. The entire west facade was reworked by James Aitken of Moffat and Aitken in 1874. A conference centre designed by Baron Bercott & Associates was added to the rear in 1984.

The building's plan reflects its original use: Number 11 comprises a 4-bay ground and first floor house with main stair now extending to second floor; Number 12 is a tenement served by a central stair providing access to a first floor flat and two double upper storeys; Number 13 is a 6-bay main door flat to the west.

The east facade comprises 5 bays of coursed rubble with ashlar margins. Steps oversail the basement area, leading to architraved doorpieces. The centre bay features a corniced surround with flush-panelled door and timber sunburst fanlight. The right bay, of later date (presumably 1874), has a timber consoled pediment and surround, containing a 6-panel period door with a 5-pane rectangular fanlight above. Two piend-roofed dormers are present, the left one being tripartite.

The west facade displays a later applied Italianate treatment of cream sandstone ashlar across 6 bays. The ground floor has channelled pilasters, a Greek Doric entablature and cornice, and round-headed windows with mask keystones and panelled aprons. A Roman Doric porch with polished red granite columns occupies the centre right bay. Above, a balustraded parapet with panelled piers is repeated as aprons to the first floor windows, set within Ionic aedicules. The upper floors have channelled pilaster strips, moulded architraves and a cill course at the second floor. An overhanging consoled cornice with matching parapet completes the design. A pair of large pedimented tripartite timber dormers crown the facade.

The rear elevations are of irregular rubble with two nepus gables, the western being broader. A round-headed stair window with intersecting glazing serves Number 11. Former gardens have been covered by the modern conference centre, accessed beneath the stair and from Number 9.

The windows are timber sash and case throughout: 12-pane to the east, and plate glass and 4-pane to the west. The roof is covered with grey slates and the stacks are rendered.

Number 11 contains a hall with bracketed cornice and a fluted pilastered panelled arch opening to a horseshoe stair on axis, fitted with plain square iron banisters. The dining room at ground level has a fluted Corinthian pilastered recess with swagged frieze (now filled) and panelled dado; a later reinforcing ceiling beam runs across the front rooms. The rear room has a swagged cornice. The first floor has been gutted for conference facilities. The stair features a concrete extension to the second floor, a former double upper, with central corridor and attic stair at the east end. The principal front rooms retain good carved chimneypieces and panelled dados.

Number 12 has a tenement stair with wrought-iron lamp brackets and brass doorpulls. The door to the first floor flat features a tall round-headed fanlight and strip-pilastered architrave. A further panelled door (a later addition) provides access to Number 11. Rectangular fanlights light the second floor landing. The first floor flat has a central corridor with a large 3-door niche at the entrance end and an arch to the main hall, with plain moulded cornice. The front east Drawing Room contains a carved and gesso chimneypiece with scrolling foliage and central swag, incorporating possibly later cast metal anthemia, with veined black marble slips and grey marble beading. It has a dado and leaf cornice. The front west Dining Room has a delicate carved and gesso chimneypiece with veined grey marble slips and beading, a panelled dado and subliminal sideboard recess, with plain moulded cornice. The rear rooms have simple chimneypieces (swagged to right and centre right), dado rails and plain moulded cornices; the left room was formerly the kitchen. The second floor flat also has a central corridor. The front rooms—Drawing Room to left, Dining Room to right—contain chimneypieces carved with swags and urns with griffons to the left and cherubs to the right, with panelled dadoes (fielded to left). A leaf cornice adorns the left room and a bracketed cornice the right; the Dining Room includes a D-shaped sideboard recess. The rear rooms have 19th century chimneypieces, timber consoled to centre and plain stone to right.

Number 13 has a ground floor and basement office, reworked in the 19th century, with the banister to the basement stair boxed in. A large front room has a modillioned cornice. A divided rear room contains deep arched recesses at either end, with identical cornice.

The front walls and railings comprise simple cast-iron railings to the east and an ashlar wall with coping and base course (echoing Numbers 9 and 14) to the west.