3 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh

3 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh

A Grade A listed building designed by Robert Adam between 1793 and 1805, this is a symmetrical neo-classical palace block of three storeys with basement and attic, spanning 27 bays and containing 11 houses. Nine houses are entered from the front, and two from the ends. The building is constructed of polished cream sandstone ashlar.

The basement is rock-faced, with V-jointed rustication at ground floor level and an impost course where appropriate. A cill course runs across the first and second floors (except at the pavilions), with a cornice and blocking course completing the elevation.

The south elevation facing Charlotte Square features a slightly projecting seven-bay centrepiece with an engaged tetrastyle portico flanked by paired columns that break forward again. Balustrades sit between the column bases. At first-floor level, windows are set in round-arched recesses and alternate with circular plaques. A carved and fluted frieze with a blank panel at the centre is topped by a balustraded parapet framed by festoons. The end pavilions are broader, with pilasters to the upper floors and Venetian windows at ground level in round-arched recesses. At first floor, the pavilions have balustraded windows with a tripartite window in a round-arched recess at the centre, flanked by windows with consoled cornices. A solid parapet with a festoon at the centre supports a sphinx, beneath which sits a pyramidal roof. The inner bays are arcaded at ground level. Tripartite doors with radiating fanlights are positioned at the centre of the centrepiece and pavilions, then every three bays moving outward. Original metal fanlights survive at Nos 1, 2, and 3.

The west elevation on Glenfinlas Street comprises five bays, with the basement built out to provide a full-width platform to the ground floor. A doorway of the same design sits at the centre (a later two-storey porch has been removed). All windows are blind except for one at the far left at ground level and three alternating windows at first-floor level.

The east elevation on North Charlotte Street has three bays. The basement and door follow the design described above, with an impost course at ground level. The upper floors feature corner pilasters and a slightly projecting centrepiece with an arcaded first floor, blind balustrading, and a fluted impost course. Rosettes flank the centre window at second-floor level (one of which is glazed), with a balustrade and wallhead stack at the centre. A large box dormer breaks the roofline.

The rear elevation is of dressed rubble, mostly regular in form with many cast-iron balconies at first-floor level. Canted dormers appear to the west, with full attics to the centre and east (with one exception). Various extensions exist at basement level.

Windows throughout are timber sash and case with 12 panes; some plate glass appears to the rear. Grey slate covers the roof, with ashlar coped skews and corniced ashlar stacks.

Interior spaces vary significantly according to modifications and use. Nos 1 and 2 interlock, with No 1 containing one of the finest interiors in Edinburgh. A small entrance leads directly into a rectangular stairwell with a fine wrought-iron balustrade and a ceiling decorated with a fan in concave husk garlands. The former Dining Room to the front features an arched pilastered sideboard recess; a later opening to the rear room is filled by a gothic astragalled glass screen installed in 1968 by Robert Hurd & Partners (manufactured by Whytock & Reid). The enriched ceiling features garlanded ovals. The former Drawing Room has a fine ceiling of an eight-point star set in an oval. Enriched timber chimneypieces were installed in 1968, when links were made at all floors with No 2. No 2 was remodelled circa 1840 with heavy Greek detailing. Nos 1 to 4 now function as a single office.

No 5 was remodelled from 1903 in the finest quality by A F Balfour Paul (manufactured by Scott Morton) for Lord Bute, with oak panelling to the ground floor and stair, cedar detailing at first-floor level, and a naturalistically painted ceiling copied from an Adam design for Luton Hoo in the Drawing Room, with a similar example in the interconnecting Rear Drawing Room. Fine contemporary marble chimneypieces enhance these spaces.

No 6, Bute House, features a T-plan entrance hall with a rosetted ceiling and consoled white marble chimneypiece. The Dining Room to the rear has an enriched ceiling. A large stairwell sits to the right. The fine Front Drawing Room displays a swagged oval ceiling and a beautiful white marble chimneypiece, contemporary but not original to the house, with a centre panel depicting Galatea. A similar but original chimneypiece appears in the Rear Drawing Room. David Rhind, Thomas Leadbetter, and Balfour Paul made alterations in 1867, 1889, and 1924 respectively.

No 7 underwent heavy restoration in 1975, including a flagged hall and rectangular stairwell with a swagged oval skylight. The Dining Room features an early 19th-century black slate chimneypiece. A room at ground level to the rear contains a timber and gesso chimneypiece from Tarvit House, Fife. First-floor cornices date from 1975; the Drawing Room chimneypiece comes from No 5, while that to the rear came from Tarvit House. An original wine cellar survives. Alterations were made by John Watherston and Son in 1871 and 1889, and by Balfour Paul in 1926.

No 8 was refitted in the best late 18th-century French manner in 1897–98, retaining original 18th-century enriched ceilings at ground level, with later versions at first-floor level.

No 9 features an enriched ceiling to its former Dining Room.

Cast-iron spearhead railings and original lamp standards frame the property. Coped rubble boundary walls enclose the former gardens (now car parks) to the rear.