15 Union Street, Edinburgh

15 Union Street in Edinburgh is a classical tenement block built in 1806, likely designed by Hugh Cairncross and constructed by John Aitchison. The building features three storeys, an attic, and a basement, with a symmetrical five-bay elevation facing Union Street (three bays for the basement). The ground floor is characterized by smooth V-jointed rustication, while the upper floors are finished in droved ashlar. The basement also has droved ashlar, and the rear is made of random rubble with dressed margins. There are dividing bands between the basement and ground floor, as well as between the ground and first floors, along with a mutuled eaves cornice and a blocking course.

The principal elevation includes a central bay with a platt that leads to a timber panelled door, which features a segmental fanlight and doorpiece with narrow margin lights, all set within a round-arched opening. The roof has two tripartite dormer windows.

The rear elevation is three bays wide, with a bowed section on the right bay. The lower floors of the bow have three windows, while the top two floors feature tripartite windows, with a cast iron balconette on the lower of the two. The lower windows in the centre bay have been narrowed.

The property includes railings at the edge of the basement recess and platt, with stone copes on the basement only, topped by spear-head finialled cast iron railings. A random rubble boundary wall with flat stone coping is located at the rear.

Most of the windows have 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case style, with 4-pane glazing on the outer lights of the tripartite dormers. The dormers also feature timber fascia, grey slate haffits, and piend roofs. There are two rooflights between the dormers, and the pitched roof is covered with graded grey slates, featuring stone skews. The building has one corniced rendered mutual ridge stack on the left, one corniced stack that is part droved ashlar and part rendered on the right, and one corniced rubble wallhead stack at the rear, all with circular cans.