Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

68 ROSEBURN STREET, ROSEBURN HOUSE, INCLUDING BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERSLB28120

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
14/07/1966
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 22761 72935
Coordinates
322761, 672935

Description

Dated 1582, tower house, with 17th and 18th century additions forming mansion house, of 2 and 3 storeys, extended into courtyard, set in its own ground on a low haugh next to Water of Leith. Painted cement harl (over masonry rubble); painted polished sandstone ashlar surrounds. Crowstepped gables. Round stair-tower to SE corner of original house. Roll-moulded openings. Piend-roofed tower to NW elevation.

NW ELEVATION: crowstepped-gabled ended ranges flanking symmetrical 3 bay centre section. Original tower house to right with small ground floor window and single windows at 1st and 2nd floors to far right. 17th/18th century section to left, door to left of centre with 2 windows to right, 3 windows above.

NE ELEVATION: 8 bays, tower advanced to left of centre; 4-bay section to right; windows at ground and 1st floor at outer bays; window to ground penultimate bay to right; window to 1st penultimate bay to left; single windows to upper floors of tower; panelled timber door with single window at 1st floor above to return; single window at 1st floor of re-entrant bay; windows to both floors of bays at left; bay to outer left angled.

SE ELEVATION: L-shaped; blank gable-end and turret to left, with 3 small pierced windows; panelled timber entrance door with tripartite fanlight and window to 1st floor above to bay to right; recessed bay to right at ground with single window to 1st floor above; single windows to 1st floor of innermost bays of re-entrant angle; small windows to ground below; short return with small window to ground; glazed timber door to ground of re-entrant angle with single windows to 1st floor above; timber door with single window above to angled bay at tip of L.

SW ELEVATION: window at 1st and 2nd floor to centre.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows, 18- and 24-pane windows to larger openings. Grey slated double-pitch roof; harled coped gablehead stacks with moulded cylindrical cans; crowstepped gables; painted cast iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR (seen 2011): vaulted basement and turnpike stair to 16th century tower; 17th/18th century extension to E contains processional dogleg stair, painted timber panel room (to SE); principal rooms at 1st floor as piano nobile; self-contained flat to basement (ground floor) with original room layout intact.

BOUNDARY WALLS: high coped sandstone rubble boundary walls with polished squared and snecked sandstone ashlar gatepiers.

Statement of Special Interest

An important early surviving example of a burgess house including significant early fabric, and rare in the context of a densely built up urban and industrial area within the City of Edinburgh.

The 16th century tower house, which forms a quarter of the existing foot print, is intact and retains its Renaissance character with few windows, a turnpike stair and vaulted basement floor. Significant earlier carved stones, related to the likelihood of an earlier house standing on the site, are incorporated into the tower house. The tower is the earliest part of the building and was built for Mungo Russell, who was a prosperous merchant burgess in Edinburgh. Carved above the tower doorway were AL MY HOIP IS IN YE LORD, the date 1582 and the initials MR and KF, referring to Mungo Russell and his wife Katherine Fisher. There are remnants of a 16th extension to the W now forming a wall and small outbuildings.

During the 17th century the W and E wings were added, forming a Z-plan house. In 1715, the house was bought by the widowed Agnes Campbell, who took the title Lady Roseburn. In keeping with contemporary tastes, Lady Roseburn added a S wing, to achieve a more classical composition and remodelled the interior of the house. The 17th and predominantly 18th century extensions respect the proportions of the tower house but also represent the contemporary taste for classical designs and are largely in their original form, including a noteworthy panelled room.

List description updated following resurvey in 2001 and in 2011-12.

References

Bibliography

RCAHMS, Edinburgh Inventory (1951) Item 182, pp230-1; J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (1984), pp630-631; J Wallace Historic Buildings of Edinburgh (1987) p223; C McKean, Edinburgh (RIAS series), (1992), p169.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 18:51