Moray Place

No 1-10 Moray Place, 1859, Alexander Thomson

Perhaps the most beautiful of all 19th-century terraces, this was Thomson’s first speculative development.

A serene long classical colonnaded terrace, two storeys high, visually stopped by full-height pilastered, Greek pedimented end bays. Viewed from the end, the pilasters of the central range conceal the recessed decorative doors, the frameless windows and even the mutual walls between houses.

The deep cornices are decorated with exquisitely carved anthemion (stylised honeysuckle) at eaves level and with Greek key at first floor. Lotus-flower chimneypots can be seen at the rear.