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Summary

Description

Main range 1825-6, incorporating parts of older Yardheads brewery, with later additions. 3- and 4-storey, roughly E-plan complex, part with basement, comprising brewery, winery, still house and bond (formerly maltings/granary) grouped around 2 yards open to Yardheads. Cream sandstone, tooled ashlar front with coursed and squared/coursed rubble to rear and sides, squared and snecked rubble and brick rear and sides to Nos 12, 13 Yardheads.

SW (FRONT) ELEVATION: 14-bay; near symmetrical; 3-storey and basement; symmetrical; base course; eaves cornice with blocking course. 8 centre bays slightly recessed with regular fenestration; band course above ground floor; cill course at 2nd floor; 6 centre bays with blind arcading at 1st floor. 3 outer bays slightly advanced with segmental- arched pend/door to inner bays. Small courtyard through E pend, forestair with iron balusters, hoist doors and hoist machinery. Taller 1st floor windows to 3rd and 4th bays from right.

NE (REAR YARD) ELEVATION AND STALK: much altered; S yard 4-bay SE range with segmental-arched dormerheads at 3rd floor and hoist doors and gable. NE range 2-bay with hoist doors. NW range (centre jamb of E-plan) rebuilt 1951-63, gable rendered. N yard 2-bay NE range with 2 large blocked arches with red ashlar voussoirs at 1st floor, modern rendered gable to right; NE range flank of 4-storey warehouse (former maltings) with single windows, fronting Yardheads with 4 bays (windows partly blocked). Square-sectioned brick stalk (top rebuilt), early-mid 19th century in re-entrant angle with modern block, single storey boiler house with piend and gabled roof adjoining.

Nos 12,13 Yardheads (circa 1890) to outer left, 4-storey office? block with irregular windows and blocked segmental-arched pend off-centre to right.

NW (FORMER BREWERY LANE) ELEVATION: 3-bay still house to right. Long 4-storey and basement former maltings to left, alternate windows blocked on conversion to bonded warehouse. Adjoining building demolished, gable rendered above former pend.

Mostly inward-opening lying-pane timber casements, barred at ground floor, horizontal astragals missing from still house, 1st floor of front elevations sash and case windows with plate glass glazing. Slate roofs, mostly piend, some corrugated metal sheeting replacements (circa 1951).

INTERIOR: timber floors on cast-iron columns. Centre winery with front to Great Junction Street largely rebuilt to accommodate bigger vats 1951-63 (above original stone-vaulted basement). 2 rectified gin stills by Arch McMillan & Co, coppersmiths, Edinburgh, dated 1887 with worm condensers.

Statement of Special Interest

Group with No 124 Great Junction Street, and Nos 127-143 Great Junction Street. Founded to brew porter "even preferable to that of the most eminent London brewers"; suffered three fires in 1828-9 and closed in about 1848. Acquired in the 1850s by John Crabbie and Co, wine and spirit merchants in Leith since at least 1801 and used to produce fruit wines and distil rectified gin. The stills are amongst the oldest surviving in situ in Britain thanks to a long period of disuse. The wine vats were all replaced 1951-63. Architecturally the most pretentious of surviving early 19th century Scottish breweries. Front to Great Junction Street cleaned 1989.

References

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