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Summary

Description

William Burn, 1839-42; SW range David Bryce, from 1852; NW range Robert Paterson, 1867. Large 3-storey H-plan purpose-built mental hospital with central kichen, dining hall and service court to rear, much altered and extended. Cream sandstone, stugged ashlar with polished dressings. Base course; band course above ground floor; eaves cornice with blocking course; ashlar mullions.

S (FRONT COURTYARD) ELEVATION: symmetrical; 11-bay centre block with outer bays as chamfered angles, tripartite windows throughout. 3 advanced bays to centre with tall parapet; plain tripartite doorway at centre and Venetian windows at 2nd floor. 9-bay wings flanking at right angle with single windows and 2 end bays advanced as pavilions. Return elevation of pavilions to S 5-bay with single windows, tripartite windows to left of centre; single storey timber lean-to addition to SW wing.

E ELEVATION: 30-bay; symmetrical; 5 centre bays advanced and canted, outer bays with tripartite windows, tripartites to centre flanked by single windows; later single storey entrance porch with round-arched channelled doorway and modern glazed link at ground floor. 2 engaged towers with widely splayed corners and single windows flanking, parapets with pierced roundels, pyramidal roofs, round-arched timber bellcotes with leaded domes and weather-vanes. Next bays with single windows set in recessed depressed-arched panels (possibly later infilling). 3-bay canted projections with tripartite windows to centre bays, single windows to outer bays and half-piended roofs. Next bays with single windows in arched panels (see above). 4-bay advanced end pavilions to either side. 4-bay single storey projecting memorial wing (1930) to NE pavilion with mansard roof, bronze bust and relief roundels to gable elevation.

W ELEVATION; 28-bay; 5 centre bays advanced, detailed as above. 11 bays to right (SW range David Bryce, 1852) with 3 narrow bays with single windows to outer left, shouldered wallhead stack. 3-storey canted window next with panelled aprons to 1st floor windows, pedimented windows at 2nd floor, tall parapet and truncated pyramidal roof. 2 centre bays with tripartite windows. Canted window detailed as above to right; continuous ornate iron window guards with ornamental brackets to 1st and 2nd floor of bays and tripartite windows. 4 bays of single windows to outer right. 10 bays to left of centre (NW range, Robert Paterson, 1867) with 3 bays of single windows to outer right; 4 bays of single windows with tall wallhead stacks linked by balustrade to outer left. Centre bays with tripartite windows and rectangular projection to left with French paviolion roof with oval-shaped louvred dormers to all faces, elaborate ironwork cresting and open finialled dome, continuous ironwork window guard at 2nd floor.

N (REAR COURTYARD) ELEVATION: inner courtyard much altered and extended. Single windows with tripartite windows to chamfered angle bays. Kitchen with tall red brick stalk and 2-storey dining hall to centre with tall round-arched windows. Service courtyard of squared and snecked stugged rubble; 9-bay elevation to N with central round-arched and keystoned pend in slightly advanced pilastered and pedimented ashlar bay. Return elevation of service courtyard to E with 2-storey canted windows flanking corniced and consoled tripartite doorway; single storey entrance porch with moulded pilasters, tripartite doorpiece and pierced balustrade in re-entrant angle to main NE wing.

Variety of window types, mostly plate glass tilt and turn replacement windows. Piend and platformed slate roofs with lead flashings; corniced mutual and wallhead stacks (see above). Moulded eaves gutters and gutterheads.

INTERIOR: much altered.

Statement of Special Interest

McKinnon House was begun in 1839 and is the oldest building at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. It is an important, early example of a purpose built psychiatric hospital, built to serve the poor of the city of Edinburgh. The building was planned by the eminent architect William Burn and largely retains its original H-plan form, together with its associated service area to the rear.

Known originally as the West House, the building was erected in three stages with the east wing and the central section completed first in 1842. The wing to the south west was added by David Bryce in 1857 and the wing to the north west was completed by Robert Paterson. The whole retains the original H-plan designed by Burn. The building is on a large scale, and is 3-storeys high with long facades to the east, south and west. A number of later low additions and extensions have been added to the building but it retains its sense of institutional size and proportions. The hospital was built for the poor and was intentionally built in a plain style with little decoration. This severity can be seen particularly on the south elevation where it is relieved only by some Venetian windows to the central section. There are some canted bays and towers to the west elevation of the building.

Burn's plan for the building was as an H-plan with one wing for males, one for females and with the superintendent and matron's apartments in the central bock, together with a chapel and billiard room for higher ranking patients and with a dining hall to the rear. This plan is apparent today and is based on William Stark's H-plan form for the asylum in Dundee. This had a 2-storey central range, flanked by 2 long single storey wings. Many of the asylums from the latter part of the 19th century are based on this plan form.

The Royal Edinburgh Hospital traces its roots back to 1774, following the death of the poet Robert Ferguson. Ferguson died in the City Bedlam at the age of 24. The conditions he was held in appalled his medical attendant Dr Andrew Duncan and he determined to establish a hospital for the mentally ill where more compassionate care could be provided. As a result, an asylum was built in the Morningside area of the city in 1813, designed by the architect, Robert Reid. The was called the East House and although had been intended for both paying and non-paying patients, in the end it only took in private patients. Demand for a hospital where pauper patients could be treated led to the building of the West House, planned by William Burn and opened in 1842 and now called McKinnon House. The original East House was demolished in 1896, following the building of Craighouse (see separate listing).

The Royal Edinburgh Hospital has been a major influence on the care of psychiatric patients since Robert Reid's building in 1819 with the emphasis always on compassionate care and current research. It remains one of the most important psychiatric hospitals in the country.

William Burn (1789-1870) was one of Scotland's most prestigious architects of the 19th century, who was known predominantly for his country house designs. He also designed the Crichton Psychiatric Hospital in Dumfries.

Statutory address, note and references updated, (2013). Address changed from 23 Tipperlinn Road and Morningside Terrace, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Mackinnon House (Formerly West House) with Boundary Wall to Kinnair Unit (Formerly Sinclair and Erskine Wards) to 23 Tipperlinn Road and Morningside Terrace, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Mackinnon House (Formerly West House).

References

Bibliography

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