13 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh

17 Northumberland Street in Edinburgh is an early 19th-century terraced tenement designed by Robert Reid and William Sibbald. It features three stories and a basement, comprising eight houses arranged in a 24-bay layout. The building is constructed of polished ashlar sandstone, with V-jointed rustication on the principal floor. Notable architectural details include a base course, band courses between the basement and principal floor, and between the principal floor and first floor. Most first-floor windows have projecting cills, and there is a cill course at the second floor for properties numbered 7 to 17A, with additional projecting cills for the second-floor windows of houses numbered 3 and 5. The second floor is topped with a cornice and blocking course, and the entrance features ashlar steps and entrance platts that extend over the basement.

The south elevation, or principal elevation, showcases houses with recessed doorways located in the right or left bays at the principal floor. These doorways feature a variety of timber doors, either six-panel or nine-panel, accompanied by fanlights that are radial, spider-web, or plate glass rectangular. The remaining bays on the principal floor exhibit regular fenestration, with several properties having lowered cills for the first-floor windows, all of which have smaller square second-floor windows, along with basement windows.

The east elevation is part of an adjoining terrace, which is listed separately as 1 Northumberland Street. The west elevation is made of coursed rubble and includes a pair of windows at the center and left on the first floor, with three centered windows on the second floor.

The building predominantly features 12-pane timber sash and case windows, with lowered cills on the first floor for houses numbered 3, 5, 7, 13, and 15. Window guards are present in the first-floor bays at houses 5 and 7, spanning three bays at houses 3, 13, and 15 where the cills have been dropped. The roof is covered with grey slate in an M shape, and there are cast-iron rainwater goods. The ridge stacks are made of rubble, with broached ashlar quoins and a rendered gablehead stack, which is coped and has circular cans.

The interiors were not seen in 1997, but there is some evidence of working panelled shutters. The property is also adorned with ashlar copes topped by cast-iron railings featuring spear-headed balusters and urn finials. Additionally, there are cast-iron lamps mounted on the railings, complete with glass globes.