63-65 Frederick Street, Edinburgh

Circa 1785; late 19th century shopfront. 3-storey on raised basement and attic classical tenement on corner site. Droved cream sandstone ashlar with polished dressings; long and short quoins; eaves cornice. Raised basement built out with glazed arcaded timber shopfront with slender columns and panelled pilasters; entablature and solid parapet supporting varied assortment of urns, lions heads and eagles, entrance marked by busts of Burns (removed 1995) and Scott.

QUEEN STREET ELEVATION: 4-bay. 6-bay shopfront with set-in door at centre right (bays of different widths). Full-width slate-hung box dormer with full entablature; pair of large canted windows with central pediments flank central tripartite window (multi-pane upper sashes).

FREDERICK STREET ELEVATION: 4-bay gable with 2 further bays to S. Shop continues around gable terminating with elaborate broken pedimented doorway with panelled pilasters (as above) and 2-leaf panelled door as porch to ground floor flat; upper architraved and corniced section of original door survives on elevation. Centre left bay of gable blank;

2 attic windows in gablehead. Corniced slate hung dormer to S pitch of gable, in gulley, with windows to S and W. 2 S bays with steps to architraved corniced doorway with plate glass fanlight and 2-leaf panelled doors to left bay; slightly inset piend-roofed tripartite dormer to right.

Timber sash and case plate glass windows (multi-pane to dormers). Ashlar coped skews; rendered stacks; grey slates.

INTERIOR: shop with good brass door furniture; variety of cast-iron columns, finned capitals, Corinthian capitals in basement; lining boards to window space; rooms still defined but slapped together. Compact curving cantilevered common stair (No 63) to flats at upper floors. 1st and 2nd floor flats with fine detailing throughout; panelled dados and carved chimneypieces to N (Queen Street) rooms and old secondary casements; hallways with stove niches and arch; secondary rooms with corniced chimneypieces; stone flags survive to former kitchen at 1st floor.

RAILINGS: cast-iron railings to Frederick Street.