93-95 Commercial Street, Dundee

A prestigious 4-storey and attic tenemental and commercial terrace in Dundee, designed by William Mackison in 1871 and executed by various architects between 1876 and 1892. The building comprises 31 bays to Commercial Street, 1 bay to Meadowside, and 6 bays to Murraygate, with rounded corner bays. David Rhind was responsible for numbers 85 and 87, executing the scheme with certain detail deviations from Mackison's original design.

The facades are constructed of sandstone ashlar with a slate roof. The ground floor is channelled to the 1st floor (smooth at numbers 85 and 87), with a corniced ground floor and cill bands to the 1st and 2nd floors incorporating aproned windows, balustraded to numbers 85-95. A wallhead course and corniced blocking course complete the vertical divisions. Pilasters between sections and at angles are channelled to ground floor and panelled to the 1st and 2nd floors, rising to festooned capitals at the consoled main cornice. Paired pilasters appear at the 3rd floor.

The ground floor contains shopfronts and doors. A pilastered and consoled doorpiece with broken pediment and cartouche is located at number 73. Numbers 85 and 87 retain architraved doors and windows to the ground floor. An elaborate doorpiece marks the rounded angle to Meadowside, consisting of 2-leaf panelled doors with basket-arch fanlight, flanked by columns with composite capitals and keystoned round-headed sidelights. The doorcase features acanthus leaf decoration and a cartouche keystone, with an entablature supporting a mannered and balustraded parapet. Doors and windows at ground floor level have been altered elsewhere.

The 1st floor features architraved windows with alternate segmental and triangular pediments. Numbers 85 and 87 have pilastered windows with 3 centre windows linked by an entablature with central segmental pediment. Tripartite windows with central consoled triangular open pediments appear at Meadowside and the angles to the right and at Murraygate, together with flanking returns.

The 2nd floor displays keystoned round-headed windows with nook shafts and continuous hoodmould, arranged as tripartites to Meadowside and the angles. The 3rd floor has architraved and keystoned windows with tripartites to Meadowside and the angles. Attic tripartites appear at the Murraygate angle and flanking returns. Dormers are square-headed to numbers 73-87 and Murraygate, and round-headed to numbers 89-99 and Meadowside.

Corniced axial stacks rise through the roof. An elongated domed roof with cast-iron crown marks the Meadowside angle; the 3rd floor, attic, and hemispherical dome at the Murraygate angle have been rebuilt and altered.

The Commercial Street elevation arranges its 31 bays in groups of 4-7-7-7-5-1, each consisting of doors and shopfronts at ground level with windows to the upper floors as detailed above. The left angle bay features a ground-floor door and tripartite windows to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors, with a lucarne to the dome. The right angle bay contains a shopfront (door removed) with a circa 1900 mezzanine window and tripartite windows to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and attic floors. Meadow Entry is situated between numbers 91 and 93.

The Meadowside elevation presents a ground-floor shopfront, tripartite windows to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors, and a dormer. The Murraygate elevation features ground-floor shopfronts with mezzanine windows, windows to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors, and bays at the left and the 4th bay from the left.

The rear elevation is symmetrically arranged with single and bipartite windows fitted with 2-pane sash and case glazing, showing various alterations and additions.