30 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh

30 Royal Terrace is a townhouse built between 1820 and 1823, designed by William Playfair, with No. 29 completed between 1823 and the early 1830s. It forms part of an exceptionally long terrace of 121 townhouses, featuring an arched and rusticated ground floor. The central section incorporates three-storey pavilions with Corinthian columns. To the left and right of the central section are three-storey balustraded sections that lead to further three-storey pavilions with Ionic columns, and at the extreme left and right, two-storey balustraded sections. All houses have basements.

The building is constructed with droved ashlar to the basement, V-chamfered rustication to the ground floor, and polished ashlar to the upper floors. The rear elevation is primarily of coursed squared rubble with dressed margins. The principal elevation features a base course, dividing bands separating the basement from the ground floor and the ground floor from the first floor, a narrow band course on the first floor, bands above the second floor, an eaves cornice, and a balustraded parapet. The fenestration is regular on the principal elevation, with predominantly regular fenestration to the rear. The ground floor has round-headed openings within round-headed arches.

On the north (principal) elevation, the three-bay, three-storey and basement section features windows in the left and right bays of the basement level, and a timber-panelled door with a six-light fanlight in the central bay, all with segmentally-headed openings. Steps and a platt overlying the basement recess lead to a timber-panelled door with flanking margin lights and a segmental fanlight with petal glazing in the left-hand bay of the ground floor. Cast-iron balconnettes adorn the first-floor windows.

The south (rear) elevation is two-bay, three-storey, and basement in height, with a band course dividing the ground and first floors and an eaves cornice.

The windows predominantly have 12-pane glazing; the ground floor has 16-pane glazing, and the first floor has 15-pane glazing. These windows are mostly timber sash and case. The roof is M-shaped, with a central valley, covered with graded grey slate, stone skews, and skewputts. There are corniced ashlar ridge stacks to the west, surmounted by octagonal flues, and a corniced wallhead stack to the east, also with octagonal flues, with predominantly circular cans.

Stone coping surmounted by cast-iron railings with dog bars, spear-head finials, and a distinctive circled border defines the front boundary, edging the basement recess and platt. A wrought iron lamp standard is located to the left of the platt. To the rear, a random rubble wall with predominantly flat coping forms the boundary of the garden.