85 Grassmarket, Edinburgh

85 Grassmarket in Edinburgh is a four-storey, two-bay tenement block designed by John Lessels in 1875, featuring Scots Baronial details. The ground floor includes a shop and a pend, known as Aird's Close, to the left. The building is constructed from coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings. It has moulded cill courses at the first, second (which steps up over a carved panel at the centre of the second floor), and third floors. All openings have chamfered reveals. The ground floor features shoulder-arched openings, with a cast-iron column with a gothic capital positioned between the windows and a two-leaf timber panelled storm door to the right.

The first-floor windows are corniced, while the second-floor windows are shoulder-arched. The right bay has bipartite windows on both the first and second floors. At the third floor, there are two windows in a crowstepped gable topped with a wrought-iron finial, and a small gabletted round-arched window at the apex. The windows are fitted with four-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. The roof is covered with grey slates, and the building features crowstepped skews and corniced stacks with circular cans.