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Summary

Description

Probably James Milne, 1816-22. Pair of 2-storey, 3-bay and basement terraced classical townhouses with paired porches to centre; gardens fronting the street. Sandstone ashlar, droved at basement. Entrance platts oversailing basement area recess to garden. Banded base course and narrow banded cill course at ground floor; band course and narrow banded cill course at 1st floor; corniced eaves course. Porches with fluted Greek Doric columns, cornice and blocking course. Moulded architraved windows at 1st floor. Inset doorway; 6-panel boarded timber doors and rectangular fanlight. 2-bay blind return to right (NW).

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: coursed squared rubble with tooled ashlar rybats, lintels and cills. Regular fenestration.

12-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows. Pitched roof; grey slates. Corniced ashlar ridge stacks with some clay cans. Cast-iron rain-water goods. Low coursed and squared rubble wall with sandstone copes edging gardens to street, topped with cast-iron railings incorporating decorative cast-iron lamp standard with large bowl shade.

INTERIOR: (selection of interiors seen 2010) decorative classical scheme, characterised by intricate plasterwork and large drawing room. Stone stairs with well-detailed cast iron balustrade and timber handrail, topped by large cupolas. Decorative cornicing to principal rooms and entrance hall, some ceiling roses, some large marble fireplaces. Working window shutters.

Statement of Special Interest

45-47 Ann Street is a prominent and finely detailed pair of terraced townhouses forming part of an outstanding example of early nineteenth century urban planning with a classically designed scheme by prominent architect James Milne. The design is well proportioned, with simple classical detailing including the use of Greek sources. Numbers 45 and 47 are stepped forwards beyond the building line of the rest of the terrace to create an air of seclusion and privacy when the terrace is entered from the SE (Upper Dean Terrace). This device also frames the vista across the Water of Leith seen from lower down the street. These townhouses are an integral part of Edinburgh's New Town, which is an outstanding example of classical urban planning that was influential throughout Britain and Europe.

The terrace was designed as a key part of the development of the land of Sir Henry Raeburn, and is an early example of classical urban planning in Edinburgh. The design exploits a prominent site at the top of the steep slope up from Stockbridge. Milne is not named as the architect in the sasines for Ann Street, but he is known to have been working elsewhere on the Raeburn estate at Upper Dean Terrace (see separate listing) and was the first resident of 17 Ann Street. The use of street fronting gardens in this design is unusual, echoing Milne's work at both Upper Dean Terrace and Lynedoch Place (see separate listings).

Henry Raeburn was born in Stockbridge and acquired the house and grounds of Deanhaugh through marriage, before adding adjacent land at St Bernard's. He occupied St Bernard's House until his death in 1823 when it was demolished to accommodate the growing residential development of the estate, making space for the eastern side of Carlton Street. The authorship of James Milne for the whole development is not certain, but the elevations for the principal streets bear the characteristic features of his designs elsewhere, such as Lynedoch Place (see separate listing) where the street fronting gardens found on Ann Street are also used. The design of Ann Street was originally intended to be replicated elsewhere in Raeburn's development, with three similar parallel streets, but this plan was later revised to the current layout sometime after 1814.

James Milne was an architect and mason working in Edinburgh between 1809 and 1834 (when he moved to Newcastle). His other works in Edinburgh also include Lynedoch Place and Saxe-Coburg Place (see separate listings). Milne was also the author of The Elements of Architecture only the 1st volume of which was published in Edinburgh in 1812.

(List description updated at re-survey 2012).

References

Bibliography

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