6 Lothian Road, Dalkeith

This is a tenement building dated 1938, designed by Thomas Aikman Swan in a traditional, picturesque style reminiscent of 17th-century Scottish architecture. The building is arranged symmetrically around a three-storey, five-bay central block, with a third-storey that breaks the eaves. Two-storey wings project to the left and right, with a squat entrance tower on the left and a three-bay section linked to Buccleuch Street by a curved angle.

The building is constructed of squared and snecked bull-faced masonry, with the rear elevation being harled. Polished dressings are used throughout, along with a deep base course and an eaves cornice. Raised margins have mannered, unsquared tails.

The east-facing elevation, on Lothian Road, features the five-bay centre block. The outer bays are crowstepped and gabled, featuring bipartite windows on the ground and first floors, a single window above, and a slit in the gablehead. The central three bays are set back at the second floor and are linked by a triple coped course. A round-arched doorway (for number 4) is centrally positioned, surrounded by dressed imposts and a decorative surround. Regular fenestration continues, with a taller first-floor window at the centre, featuring a bracketed ledge and a cast-iron window guard. Curved dormer-headed windows are present on the second floor, with an ovolo-moulded surround that is continuous with the eaves cornice. A dormerhead in the centre of the second floor is inscribed with “1938.”

The two-bay left wing has regularly disposed fenestration, with a bipartite window on each floor of the right bay. It has a half-piended roof and a circular tower that clasps the south elevation and sits between different eaves lines. A vertically panelled door (number 6) has an ogeed architrave facing east, and a small window with ovolo moulding mirroring the eaves. The south elevation of the wing is harled below a rubble gablehead.

The three-bay right wing also features regularly disposed fenestration, with a bipartite window on the ground and first floors of the left bay. A vertically panelled door (number 2) with an ogeed architrave is located on the curved corner, and a first-floor window features a bracketed ledge and a cast-iron window guard.

The north-facing elevation on Buccleuch Street is characterised by regularly disposed fenestration, with a bipartite window on the ground and first floors of the right bay.

The west elevation abuts the neighbouring buildings at 48-54 Buccleuch Street.

The windows are fitted with small-pane glazing in sash and case style. Coping is present on the re-entrant walls of the advanced wings, along with ridge tiles. Coped rubble stacks are visible, including two broad stacks between the centre block and wings, two on the east pitch of the centre block, one on the west pitch of the left wing, and one on the ridge of the concavely curved roof to the right. Two cat-slide dormer windows are present on the west pitch of the roof. The roof is covered in grey slates.

A low, coped rubble boundary wall runs along the street edge.