USP Round the houses

Town planning can throw up some unusually shaped buildings when space is at a premium.

Anyone looking for an example of how architects can make things fit on an awkwardly-shaped site – if the square footage is valuable enough that is – should think of New York’s Flatiron building, one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the world.

Triangular in shape, its 22 floors run to a very sharp angle at one end to fit in with the road layout.

The building at the corner of Leopold Place in Edinburgh’s new Town is not quite so starkly shaped but the unique and quirky 1820s Playfair-designed townhouse is certainly a talking point with its beautifully curved frontage following the lines of the road.

A main door flat in the building is currently for sale.

Spread over the ground and first floors, as you might expect, it barely has a right angle anywhere in it.

On the ground floor the curve houses the generous hall with sweeping spiral stone staircase, and a sitting room with grand fireplace and space for a dining table.

The kitchen, store room and downstairs shower room are at the back of the house but are equally quirkily shaped.

Upstairs the curve takes in a spacious master bedroom and there is a family bathroom.

The second bedroom, however, is disappointingly square.