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Summary

Description

Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, circa 1899 with later additions. Large 2-storey and attic Arts and Crafts villa of unusual design with later first floor conservatory to S, and piend-roof canted bay to SW corner. Plainer servants' wing to E (see Notes). Painted render with painted ashlar strip-quoins. Deep corniced string-course to N and W elevations of main part of house. Red tiled piended roof, bell-cast with deep bracketed eaves to W wing.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 4-bay elevation to main body of house; single-bay servants' wing to left; 2-bay recessed link-building between with covered section at ground. 2-leaf timber-panelled door in chamfered ashlar surround; bipartite window above with moulded cill; 3 windows to left at ground. Flat-roofed dormer breaking eaves to left return; 2 smaller dormers, one above the other to left, looking over corridor roof. Irregular fenestration to corridor and wing.

W ELEVATION: 2-storey canted bay to right; 3 lights to each storey. Slightly advanced bipartite window to left; flat-roofed dormer breaking eaves above.

S (PRINCIPAL/GARDEN) ELEVATION: main block to left: architraved timber-boarded door with brass strap hinges and door furniture to centre of continuous advanced section; quadripartite windows flanking to each side; later cantilevered conservatory at first floor with open balustraded balcony between glazed balconies with quadripartite windows corresponding to windows below. Central flat-roofed bipartite dormer to attic. Irregular glazing to link. Glazed door to left at ground of wing; window flanking to right; central tripartite window to first floor.

E ELEVATION: slightly later single-storey outshot at ground to right with timber panelled door; advanced section at first floor to right. Irregular fenestration; half-glazed timber panelled door to centre of first floor, approached by wrought-iron spiral staircase (see Notes).

Small-pane glazing to predominantly timber sash and case windows; timber casements to smaller dormers and quadripartite windows to S elevation. Tall rendered corniced stacks with tall clay cans arranged irregularly; coped ridge stack to E wing.

INTERIOR: small red-tiled entrance lobby; half-glazed timber panelled inner door. Main staircase rising from pilastered arch in entrance hall; timber banister to upper section. Sitting room and dining room to S, divided by timber panelled partition with sliding doors; both rooms with fireplaces flanked by glazed display cupboards. Original chimneypieces to study and most bedrooms, all with timber mantelpiece, roll-moulded stone inner surrounds and delft tile insets. Timber-panelled doors to all rooms. Decorative plaster cornices, especially in dining and sitting rooms. Double porcelain scullery sink with fixed wringer. Downstairs lavatory in scullery wing with decorative bowl.

BOUNDARY WALL AND RAILINGS: low ashlar coped boundary walls rising to ashlar gatepiers; ABDEN inscribed on gatepiers. Decorative wrought-iron railings and gates.

GARAGE: Office of Sir Robert Lorimer, 1924. 2-leaf timber boarded door, window to side. Ashlar to front, harled to sides. Felt roof.

Statement of Special Interest

Formerly Blair House. A quirky Arts and Crafts house with a remarkably intact interior. Not only do the principal rooms appear to have all their original fixtures, including fireplaces, cornicing and panelling, but the service quarters also appear to retain many of their original features, such as the double sink with wringer, and the downstairs lavatory. This survival of domestic fixtures is highly unusual, as these types of fixtures are usually replaced fairly frequently. The only other house in Colinton, with comparable survivals is 1 Pentland Road. Like many of the contemporary Arts and Crafts houses in Colinton, this house is sited and planned so that the principal rooms face South and overlook the main part of the garden, while the less important rooms face East and North.

The house was built speculatively by Rowand Anderson, who presumably designed it himself, and it was sold in 1899 to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, to be a home of rest for the Infirmary nurses. At the end of the nineteenth century there was considerable discussion about the working hours, health and well-being of Royal Infirmary nurses. In 1899 Blair House, as it was then called, was opened as a place where nurses could take brief holidays to recuperate from their arduous duties. Unfortunately it was not a success, as the nurses felt it was too far away from Edinburgh, and it was closed in 1922. A couple of photographs, in the Lothian Health Services Archive (see www.scran.ac.uk) and dating from about 1900, show a group of nurses playing croquet outside the house.

Several alterations were made to the house, probably in the 1920s after the house was sold. These include the second storey on the service wing, and cantilevered conservatory (there was originally a smaller balcony at this position, which was accessed by a double door with an elliptical pediment).

The discovery of drawings for the garage in the Lorimer collection at the NMRS was quite a surprise. They were drawn for Neil McCleod Esq. and are dated 18 Feb 1924. Since the alterations to the house, mentioned above, were done at about that time, it is possible that Lorimer was responsible for them too, although no drawings seem to have survived.

The wrought-iron spiral staircase, although approximately contemporary with the house, was installed by the present owners in about 1997, replacing a timber stair.

References

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