Playhouse Theatre, 18, 20, 22 Greenside Place, Edinburgh

The Playhouse Theatre, built in 1927-1929 to designs by John Fairweather, is a classical, symmetrical theatre-cinema of two main storeys and an attic, arranged over eleven bays. Shops occupy the ground floor. The building is constructed of polished ashlar stone, with brick and glazed brick to the rear. A band course and deeply dentilled main cornice visually separate the first floor from the attic; a prominent cill course runs along the attic floor, and there is an eaves cornice. A balustraded parapet tops the building, with solid parapets to the more projecting pavilions on either side. Pilasters divide the bays on the first floor.

The principal west elevation features a one-bay advanced pavilion at each outer end. The central three bays have a pair of timber and eight-pane glazed doors, topped with letterbox fanlights, set within a panelled opening and a blocked reeded surround. Flanking these central bays are shopfronts with large windows and curved profiles leading to recessed doorways. The pavilions on either side have additional shopfronts, also with curved windows and recessed entrances. A full-width recessed opening is present in the left-hand pavilion. The cill course of the attic floor is raised centrally to create a parapet, flanked by pedestals supporting globe finials.

Ground-floor windows are plate glass, while those above are plate glass with margined glazing patterns. The roof is pitched, covered in grey slate with stone skews, except for an east-facing section that has a flat roof.

The interior is exceptionally ornate and retains much original detail. The outer foyer has Ionic pilasters and a coffered ceiling with bay-leaf garland cornicing. The inner foyer features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with stained glass panels and egg-and-dart moulding. Classically detailed timber door surrounds are on either side. Large, similarly decorated function rooms are located above the foyers on the first floor, one of which features windows with coloured glass. The auditorium has cantilevered circle and balcony tiers, with a semi-elliptical front to both. A cavetto architraved proscenium arch is flanked by splayed sections, with a double-coved, coffered ceiling adorned with block-cornice. The decorative detailing throughout is lavish, combining classical and rococo styles, and includes blind Serlian motifs at the upper level.