Description

Circa 1790; subsequent internal alterations, particularly 1986-8. 3-storey basement and attic, 7-bay former pair of classical houses with flats above. Droved Craigleith sandstone ashlar with polished dressings (cleaned with some replacement stones and cement patching). Channelled rustication at ground; cill course at 1st floor; regular fenestration. 9-pane door to common stair at centre wth moulded architrave and 6-pane rectangular fanlight; flanked by pair of pilastered doorcases, each containing tripartite doorway with stepped back cornice and semicircular fanlight; modern timber fanlight to

No 55, decorative metal fanlight to No 57. Pair of large canted piend-roofed dormers to left; pair of smaller piend-roofed dormers to right.

Coursed rubble 4-storey 4-bay rear elevation with pair of bowed bays at centre, and projecting central closets rising to 1st floor; outer bays with tripartite windows to all floors.

Timber sash and case 12-pane windows. Ashlar coped mutual skews; broad dressed stone mutual stacks; grey slates.

INTERIOR: common stair removed, being replaced by concrete stair at upper floors only. Lift inserted at centre right of No 57. Former houses with mirrored plans; curving cantilevered central stairs; decorative 19th century cast-iron banisters with tray rests to No 55, plain round banisters to No 57. Apsidal-ended former Dining Rooms, each with panelled dado; shallow sideboard recess and black slate chimneypiece incised with anthemion motifs to No 57. Veined orange marble chimneypiece to rear left room of No 55, rear right room with chimneypiece with entwined dolphins. Rear left room of No 57 with swagged timber chimneypiece with marble fillets, rear right room with 19th century marble chimneypiece. At 1st floor, former Drawing Room of No 55 with compartmentalised 19th century ceiling and corresponding consoled marble chimneypiece, fanlight to landing; No 57 subdivided with grey marble chimneypiece. Rear left room of No 55 with simple white marble chimneypiece. Panelled dados at 2nd floor, front rooms subdivided with swagged friezes to cornices; 19th century grey marble chimneypiece to former E flat, former W flat with sideboard recess and swagged chimneypiece with Delft tiles. Rear left room with painted stone chimneypiece and sepia tiled inserts of the Seasons. Open stair with turned timber banisters to E garret, enclosed to W

RAILINGS AND LAMP STANDARDS: 19th century cast-iron railings to No 55; spearhead to No 57. Pair of cast-iron lamp standards (one to each doorway).

Statement of Interest

A significant surviving part of the original fabric of Edinburgh?s New Town, one of the most important and best preserved examples of urban planning in Britain; Queen Street was built to take advantage of the northern views, and has survived remarkably unaltered to this day. The whole property is now a single office. There are access points at each floor, currently (1995) either blocked or locked, to No 54 (see separate listing).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17576728

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)