18-20 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh

18-20 Nicolson Street in Edinburgh is a tenement building dating from around 1790. It stands four storeys high with an attic and features five bays. The ground floor has projecting single-storey shops that have been altered, and there is a two-storey harled extension at the rear, added in 1903, which includes a rooftop drying green. The building is constructed of droved ashlar stone, with rubble on the rear and the north side gable.

The central section of the building has a three-window pedimented wallhead gable with a stack at the apex. The outer bays on the first storey have later six-light timber canted bay windows, which feature raised cills and a cornice. The entrance to the former cinema is a central two-leaf, four-panel timber door with a rectangular fanlight above that has a multi-pane glazing pattern; there is also a stair entrance to the left. The rear of the building has a central two-window pedimented wallhead gable with a stack at the apex.

A later metal walkway connects the third storey of the tenement to the drying area at the back. The upper storeys predominantly feature 12-pane timber sash and case windows, while the shops have plate glass windows. The roof is covered with grey slates, and there are coped gable stacks and raised skews.