The building was originally designed by Edinburgh architect Alexander Black and was built as a private home on what was then the edge of the city, in 1852.

[2] The building was also used as a training school by Royal Bank of Scotland.

It was bought by current owners, Derek and Shirley Mowat, in 1998.

[4] Around 1867, an Edinburgh music seller, Archibald Shearer, then living in the Dunstane, was granted permission to "erect a house or villa agreeable to the plan approved of by the Feoffers of Trust and Governors of George Heriot's Hospital".

The building was opened in 2008 as the 18-bedroom Dunstane City Hotel, by former Scotland rugby union international Scott Hastings.