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

6-10 (INCLUSIVE NOS) BLENHEIM PLACE AND 2 AND 3 GREENSIDE END INCLUDING RAILINGS AND BOUNDARY WALLSLB28335

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
16/12/1965
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 26181 74472
Coordinates
326181, 674472

Description

W.H. Playfair, designed 1821. Built by J Dickson, 1824. Symmetrical, classical tenement range, on site with very steep drop to rear; single storey and basement to Blenheim Place and E elevations, 4/5 stories to rear. 15 bays to Blenheim Place, 5 bays to E elevation. Polished ashlar; droved ashlar (some painted) to basements to Blenheim Place elevation; coursed squared rubble with droved margins to rear. Dividing band between basement and ground floor; eaves course and cornice; blocking course. Greek Doric colonnade to E elevation; coupled pilasters dividing bays to Blenheim Place elevation. Predominantly regular fenestration.

N (BLENHEIM PLACE) ELEVATION: steps and entrance platts overarching basement recess to 5 doorways, each with 2-leaf timber-panelled door with letterbox fanlight (those at No. 6 and 9 divided into 5 oval lights) flanked to left and right by single window.

E ELEVATION: single central window to basement. Blank wall above with 6 engaged fluted Greek Doric columns.

S (REAR) ELEVATION: 2 shouldered doorways and dividing band between ground and 1st floor to right. 4-storey, 2-bay bowed section to left; 3 4-storey, single bay bowed sections to outer left. Fenestration predominantly regular in terms of position, but with varied forms and sizes.

GLAZING etc: predominantly 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows (some modern casements to rear). Flat roof. 5 corniced, rendered (random rubble to centre stack) stacks with circular cans, placed across width of roof at regular intervals, beginning at E wallhead.

BOUNDARY WALLS: to S elevation, high random rubble garden wall with stone copings; runs N to S from centre of rear elevation, plus short section from E to W; E elevation of wall has doorway with dressed margins at left, modern garage door and doorway inserted to right.

RAILINGS: to N elevation only; to edge of basement recesses and platts, stone copes (edging basement only) surmounted by cast iron railings and gates with circular design at top and spear-headed dog bars.

Statement of Special Interest

6-10 Blenheim Place is important for its streetscape value, as an example of the work of one of Scotland's leading early 18th century architects, and as a significant element of the Eastern New Town scheme. The form of the building is significant both as a successful solution to the use of a difficult site, and as an example of Playfair's consideration of the surrounding landscape in his architecture. The railings are important as their design is a distinctive element which Playfair repeated in several areas of the Calton scheme.

Blenheim Place is one of the most prestigious elements of the Calton Scheme for an Eastern New Town. The origins of this new town, which was to occupy the east end of Calton Hill and lands to the north of it on the ground between Easter Road and Leith Walk, lie in a 'joint plan for building' which three principal feuars (Heriot's Hospital, Trinity Hospital and Mr Allan of Hillside) entered into in 1811. In 1812 a competition was advertised for plans for laying out the grounds in question. Thirty-two plans were received, displayed and reported on by a variety of people, including eight architects. Eventually, it was decided that none of the plans was suitable. However, it was a more general report by William Stark (who died shortly after submitting it) which caught the attention of the Commissioners and formed the basis of the final scheme. Stark's central argument stressed the importance of planning around the natural contours and features of the land rather than imposing formal, symmetrical street plans upon it. After several years of little or no progress, in 1818 the Commissioners finally selected William Henry Playfair, a former pupil of Stark's, to plan a scheme following his master's Picturesque ideals.

The resulting scheme, presented to the Commissioners in 1819, preserved the view of and from Calton Hill by the creation of a limited development of three single sided terraces on the hill itself, and a huge radial street pattern on the land to the north. However, feuing of this lower land was slow, for a variety of reasons, and very little of Playfair's original vast scheme was built as intended.

Blenheim Place owes its unusual single storey appearance to a mixture of Picturesque sensibilities and economic concerns. The land on which it is built was owned by Heriots Hospital. On the opposite side of the road was land belonging to Mr Allan of Hillside, upon which Leopold Place was to be built. In 1821 Allan wrote to the Governors of Heriot's Hospital asking them to consider not building Blenheim Place, and offering to compensate them for the loss of feuing proceeds. Playfair reports that for sometime it was uncertain whether Blenheim Place would be built or not, but that eventually a compromise was reached and the Hospital decided to lower the height of the buildings. The precise reasons behind Allan's wish to prevent the construction of Blenheim Place are not recorded, but it is highly likely that he wished to preserve unbroken views of Calton Hill from Leopold Place. Playfair himself stressed the importance of the Hill as the prime factor in attracting people of high quality to the eastern new Town. By trying to protect this view from Leopold Place, Allan showed an appreciation of the value of the view and a desire to ensure it was preserved.

References

Bibliography

O.S. MAP 1852, 1877. MINUTES OF MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR FEUING THE GROUNDS OF CALTON HILL 1811-1822, Edinburgh City Council Archives. A.J. Youngson, THE MAKING OF CLASSICAL EDINBURGH (1966) pp135-148. T Shepherd MODERN ATHENS (1969). I G Lindsay GEORGIAN EDINBURGH (1973) pp54-55. Gifford, McWilliam and Walker EDINBURGH (1994) p446. H Colvin DICTIONARY OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS (1995). RCAHMS Inventory.

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.

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