47 Heriot Row, Edinburgh

This is a substantial 15-bay, predominantly three-storey and basement, terraced block built in 1817 by William and Lewis A Wallace, situated within Edinburgh. The building occupies the west side of India Street, with Nos. 2 and 2A India Street on its eastern elevation. It forms part of a wider terrace. The exterior is constructed from polished ashlar sandstone, exhibiting V-jointed rustication at the main floor level and rock-faced rustication in the basement. A base course is present at the principal floor, a band course at the first floor, and a cill course at both the first and second floors. A cornice and blocking course is found at the second floor, extending as a base course to No. 44. Nos. 43 and 44 have round-arched window recesses with corniced friezes at the impost level, accentuated by a cornice and blocking course at the third floor. Ashlar steps and entrance platts project over the basement areas.

The main (north) elevation presents five predominantly three-storey, three-bay houses, with nine bays to the right being advanced, and the central three bays (No. 44) projecting further. The main entrances are primarily located within the bays to the right, with one door in the bay to the left of No. 43. These entrances feature nine-panel doors with plate glass and decorative rectangular fanlights, with a particularly elaborate round-arched doorpiece at No. 44 incorporating a nine-panel door and a radial semicircular fanlight. Regular window placement is visible across the principal elevation and on the upper floors. No. 44 has a later added storey. The basement area is flagged.

The eastern (2 and 2A India Street) elevation is three-storeys high, with an attic and basement, spanning six bays. It includes a six-panel door with a deep decorative round-arched fanlight and oversailing ashlar steps in the outer right bay at the principal floor. Regular fenestration is maintained at all floors. A broad timber mullion is found in a converted window in the penultimate bay from the right on the second floor. Blind windows are present in the penultimate bays from the left at all floors, along with the outer left bay and the third bay from the left at the principal floor. Advanced cills are positioned below the principal floor and attic windows. A wallhead stack is shouldered on the left, and a cornice at the attic is depressed to the right. The polished ashlar basement features windows in the penultimate and third bays from the left. A three-bay shop front occupies the right-hand side, with a glazed door and shallow rectangular fanlight in the third bay from the right, accompanied by plate glass and multi-pane windows.

The building primarily features plate glass sash and case windows, with window guards protecting the first-floor windows of the principal elevation. A grey slate M-roof is in place, complemented by cast-iron rainwater goods. The ridge and wallhead stacks are broached and rendered, topped with circular cans. Interior inspection was not possible in 1997, but evidence suggests the presence of working panelled shutters. The railings and lamps consist of ashlar copes surmounted by cast-iron railings with spear-headed balusters and urn finials, along with cast-iron lamps featuring glass globes.