81, 83, 85 Broughton Street, Edinburgh

Circa 1818; public house John Forrester 1898-9. 4-storey, basement to Broughton Place elevation, 5-bay x 5-bay, terrace Classical corner tenement, full-height 2-windowed bow to Broughton Street, shop and public house with fine late Victorian interior at ground. Sandstone ashlar, rusticated in regular bays at ground. Base course, band courses between floors, cill band at 1st floor, corniced eaves and blocking course.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: classically detailed, part-glazed, timber public house front with entrances to left and right, balustraded, ball-finialled parapet with segmental-arched pedimented tablet, scroll-flanked above. Entrance to flats above to right (second door at left now blocked). To left at ground to Broughton Street and spanning 2 bays to Broughton Place irregular-plan projecting shopfront. Regular fenestration above.

N (BROUGHTON PLACE) ELEVATION: projecting timber-panelled shopfront to 2 bays to right with deep entablature and central segmental pediment and balustered rail with ball finials; two-leaf timber panelled doors to right and left with ovoid fanlights. Wrought iron lifting mechanism for beer barrels to right. Doors to right of pub front in remaining bays, regular fenestration above with windows blinded for symmetry in 2 bays to right at 1st and 3rd floors.

Timber sash and case windows with 12-pane glazing, 4-pane at ground, stacks with terracotta cans, decorative cast-iron railings.

INTERIOR: good late 19th century Classical style decorative scheme. Lobbies with 2-leaf timber half-glazed inner doors. Compartmented ceiling to pub; decorative plaster cornices with egg and dart and foliate mouldings and decorative consoles. Tiles to dado with panels showing Scottish rural scenes, polychrome embossed tiles at upper edge, plain tiles around scenes. Timber chimneypieces with tiled grates, over-mantles with mirrors. Ceiling-height carved oak gantry with deep architrave and split pediments with ball finials; timber panelled bar counter with pilasters and quasi-consoles.