36, 38, 40 North Castle Street, Edinburgh

36, 38, and 40 North Castle Street in Edinburgh are a pair of classical houses built between 1792 and 1794. They stand three storeys high with a basement and attic, featuring eight bays. The exterior is made of droved cream sandstone ashlar with polished dressings. The ground floor has V-jointed rustication and a cornice with mutules at the eaves. To the centre right, there is a slightly recessed common stair bay with droved stone at the ground level, topped by a corniced doorpiece and a rectangular plate glass fanlight. A plain house door is located to the right. The left side has a four-bay block with a prominent Roman Doric pilastered doorpiece in the centre right bay, also featuring a plate glass fanlight. The upper floor windows display traces of timber architraves and are corniced at the first floor. There are four canted piend-roofed dormers.

The buildings have timber sash and case windows, with 12-pane windows in the five left bays and plate glass in the right, including 4-pane windows in the dormers. The skews are ashlar coped, with rendered stacks to the south and a pair at the centre, while the right side has ashlar stacks. The roofs are covered with grey slates.

Inside No 36, there is a curving cantilevered stone stair aligned with the hall, extending to the upper floors, and featuring plain round iron banisters. A lift is located to the centre right. The former dining room has a panelled dado and a swagged frieze. On the first floor, there are two two-bay rooms at the front, with the southern room having a panelled dado. A similar layout is found on the second floor, with an open plan attic. The building has been extended to the rear at the ground and first floors, above a garage.

No 40 features a curving cantilevered stone stair to the centre left, also with plain round banisters. The former dining room has a swagged frieze and a partition that divides off a sideboard recess, which has two doors leading to subdivided rear rooms. There are further subdivisions on the first floor, possibly including a two-bay former drawing room with a small deep recess. The basement contains a safe and wine bins.

No 38 retains a single surviving double upper. Its stair has plain round banisters, with an enlarged stair leading to the garret. The kitchen has covered flags, stone ranges, and servants' bells. The northern rooms on the main floor appear to have been combined into one, with fluted pilasters marking the old divide, which has since been subdivided again.

The properties are enclosed by cast-iron spearhead railings.