Jenners, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 Princes Street, Edinburgh

Jenners is a large, early Renaissance-style department store built in six storeys and an attic, with a prominent seven-storey corner tower, constructed between 1893 and 1895 by W. Hamilton Beattie. A north extension was added in 1903 by A.R. Scott. The building is situated on a sloping ground falling to the south. It is constructed of pink polished sandstone ashlar and features extensive strapwork detailing, paired columns and cornices framing windows, and caryatids at the first floor of the corner, along with a similar design incorporated into the flying buttresses. The ground floor arcade contains plate glass shop windows. Ashlar mullions and transoms are present on the first, second and third floors, with mullions also found on the fourth. Arched windows are characteristic of the fifth floor, many set within swan-neck pedimented aedicules. Strapwork balustrading adorns the first and third floors, while carved aprons decorate the second and fourth, and an open balustrade features on the fifth. There is a total of six flagpoles.

The south (Princes Street) elevation is five bays wide, with a pedimented doorway at the centre. Two bays on the left are slightly advanced, incorporating swan-necked pediments supported by consoles and caryatids, and a dormer window is positioned centrally. The right bay forms part of the corner tower. The east (South St David Street) elevation is largely symmetrical, sixteen bays wide, with the corner tower to the south and a similarly designed six-storey facade to the north. The central bays are united by overlaid aedicules that rise through the attic, including a pedimented doorway on the ground floor. Flanking wings incorporate solid, projecting parapeted towers that disguise level changes, each floor adorned with aedicules and progressively transforming strapwork cresting into pediments. The north (Rose Street) elevation is a six-bay trabeated facade, largely stripped of ornamentation, with the exception of the initial bay, which blends into the corner tower. It includes channelled pilasters at ground level, giant order pilasters extending to the first/second and third/fourth floors, bipartite windows, and pedimented dormers. Flying links connect the building to the west, providing access over the Rose Street Lane South entrance.

Plate glass casement windows are found on the first, second and third floors, while the fourth floor features twelve-pane timber sash and case windows. The fifth floor has plate glass timber sash and case windows. The roof is covered with grey slates.

The interior is fireproof, with steel beams supported by iron columns, which in turn carry floors made of approximately 2-3 inch thick Stuart’s Granolithic. A notable feature is an elaborate strapwork timber staircase leading from the ground floor to a magnificent three-storey top-lit Saloon. This spacious area rises to the full height of the building and incorporates an open timber Queen-post roof and consoled galleries. Further strapwork stairs lead to the first floor. The remainder of the interior has been largely upgraded for modern retail use.