5 Albany Street, Edinburgh

These are a pair of early 19th-century, two-storey and attic houses with basements, located at 7 and 5 Albany Street, Edinburgh. They are built of polished ashlar sandstone and are set within a formal terrace. The facades are characterized by a base course, a band course between the basement and the main floor, projecting window sills, a cornice, and a blocking course. Ashlar steps and entrance platts extend beyond the basement level.

The principal (north) elevation features pilastered and corniced doorpieces, one flanking a four-panel timber door with a radial semicircular fanlight (at No. 5), and the other a six-panel timber door with a plate glass semicircular fanlight (at No. 7). The window arrangement is regular across the remaining bays at the principal floor, first floor, and basement levels. The basement area is paved with flags. The western and eastern elevations adjoin terraced buildings listed separately (3, 3B Albany Street and 9, 9A, 9B Albany Street respectively).

No. 5 retains 12-pane timber sash and case windows, while No. 7 has plate glass timber sash and case windows. The roofs are covered in grey slate, with a later mansard roof on No. 7. No. 5 has a pair of tripartite, rectangular, piended dormers, whereas No. 7 features a pair of later, pedimented dormers. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present throughout. The chimneys are of polished ashlar with a polygonal can, and a rendered style with a circular can. Coped skews are also visible.

The interior was not inspected in 1998. Cast-iron railings with spear-headed finials are surmounted by a polished ashlar cope.

A mews building, dating from the early 19th century, is located to the rear of 7 Albany Street at 23 Dublin Street Lane South. Constructed of stugged and squared sandstone with random rubble gables, it is two storeys and three bays. It has broached ashlar dressings, long and short quoins (some modern), and a modern vertically-boarded timber door at the right of the ground floor, along with a pair of modern vertically boarded garage doors with a cement lintel on the left. The first floor has a pair of windows, one centered and the other left of center. A remains of a coping rubble wall lines the left side, featuring a two-leaf vertically-boarded pedestrian gate. The western and eastern elevations are predominantly blank gables, with a window on the left of the ground floor of the west elevation. The building has 9-pane timber sash and case windows, a grey slate roof surmounted by a modern skylight, cast-iron rainwater goods, and coped skews.