34 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

34 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

This is a Grade A townhouse, one of the units within the extremely long 121-bay palace front terrace designed by William Playfair between 1820 and 1824. Number 34 was built between 1854 and 1859.

The principal north elevation presents a three-bay, three-storey composition with basement and attic. The basement contains a window to the left bay; the centre features a timber-panelled door with three-light fanlight, flanked by narrow four-pane windows in segmentally headed openings. The right bay has a platt blocked in with droved ashlar wall and window. Above, the ground floor displays a right bay with steps and platt overarching the basement recess, leading to a timber-panelled door with flanking four-pane margin lights and a segmental sunburst fanlight. The first floor is articulated by giant attached Ionic columns dividing the bays and supporting an entablature between the second and attic floors, with pilasters dividing the bays to the attic floor. An eaves cornice and blocking course complete the elevation.

The building follows the broader terrace pattern of an arched and rusticated ground floor. The main terrace itself features at its centre a three-storey section with three three-storey and attic Corinthian colonnaded pavilions. To the left and right, flanking three-storey balustraded sections lead to three-storey sections with three-storey and attic Ionic colonnaded pavilions, with two-storey balustraded sections to the outer left and right.

The external materials are carefully graded: droved ashlar to the basement; V-chamfered rustication to the ground floor; polished ashlar to the upper floors. The rear elevations are predominantly coursed squared rubble with dressed margins. The principal elevation is detailed with a base course, dividing band between basement and ground floor, impost course to the ground floor, dividing band between ground and first floors, and to the first floor a narrow band course broken by a window to each bay. The ground floor features round-headed openings in round-headed overarches.

The south rear elevation presents a two-bay composition with band course dividing ground and first floors, cornice and band course dividing second and attic floors, eaves cornice, and blocking course.

Glazing is predominantly twelve-pane; the ground floor and first floor to the front elevation feature seventeen-pane and fifteen-pane glazing respectively, whilst the attic floor has six-pane glazing to both front and rear elevations. All glazing is predominantly in timber sash and case windows.

The roof is M-pitched with a central valley, laid in graded grey slate with stone skews and skewputts. To the west is a mutual corniced ridge stack; to the east a mutual stack with octagonal flues. Flues are predominantly fitted with circular cans.

The front railings edge the basement recess and platt, with stone coping surmounted by cast-iron railings featuring dog bars, spear-head finials and a distinctive circled border. To the rear, the garden boundary is formed by a random rubble wall with predominantly flat coping.

The interior is now subdivided into flats. The ground floor contains a lobby formed of two square, pilastered, saucer-domed halls separated by a timber and glazed screen and door, with good plasterwork. The former dining room retains windows flanked by Corinthian columns and pilasters, good plasterwork, and a classical slate chimneypiece. The remainder of the ground floor has been substantially altered. An unusual stone cantilevered half-turn staircase with winders and mid-flight landings features ornate cast-iron balusters and has two niches in the walls to the second floor. Above the stairwell a cupola sits within a deep well, with good simple plasterwork to the stairs and landings.