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

1-25A (Inclusive Numbers) Gardner’s Crescent and 109-115 (Odd Numbers) Morrison Street, Including Railings, EdinburghLB28797

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
A
Group Category Details
100000019 - see notes
Date Added
14/12/1970
Last Date Amended
17/07/2015
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 24558 73076
Coordinates
324558, 673076

Description

R & R Dickson. 1826. 1-25 Gardner's Crescent: plain classical crescent of 4-storey tenements with basement, continuous with 4-storey V-plan block at corner of Morrison Street. Nos 1-6 comprise 17 bays linking Morrison Street and crescent proper (Nos 7-25A), which extends in unbroken sweep of 52 bays. Polished sandstone ashlar; basement droved. Base course; cill course to 1st floor; plain 2-storey giant order to 1st and 2nd floors; projecting cornice beneath 3rd floor; banded cornice; blocking course. Oversailing platts to entrance doors; doors to basement beneath; architraved segmental-topped door and window openings to ground floor; panelled aprons to ground floor windows of Nos 7-25A; regular fenestration to all upper floors and basement.

No 1. 4 bay. Recessed door to left; single windows to bays to right; plain moulding to pediment.

No 2. 3 bay. Recessed door to right; single windows to bays to left; no giant order; non-projecting cornice beneath 3rd floor.

No 3. 3 bay. Recessed door to right; single windows to bays to left; pilasters between windows of 3rd floor.

No 4. 3 bay. Recessed door to left; single windows to bays to right; no giant order; non-projecting cornice beneath 3rd floor.

Nos 5 and 6. 2 recessed doors to right; single windows to bays to left single windows to all floors of bay in return to right (ground floor window blind); plain moulding to pediment.

Nos 7 and 7A. 5 bay. Includes 5-storey square pyramid-roofed tower joining Nos 1-6 with crescent proper. Steps to central 6-panelled timber entrance door; single windows to bays to right; bay to left forms angle to square tower; additional window to right of uppermost tower floor; re-entrant angle of tower regularly fenestrated.

Nos 8-25A. 48 bay. 6 sections of 8 bays with regular sequence of windows (4-1-4-1) and doors (1-2-1) at ground; panelled timber entrance doors; variety of glazing patterns to fanlights.

109-115 (Odd Nos) Morrison Street: 4-storey tenement block, 4-bay symmetrical section (Nos 109-113) to Morrison Street, bowed 3-bay corner to Gardner's Crescent (No 115). Droved sandstone ashlar; polished sandstone ashlar to No 115. Base course; dividing band course between ground and 1st floors and, to bowed section only, projecting cornice; projecting cornice between 2nd and 3rd floors; cornice; blocking course. Voussoirs to ground floor openings and architraves to 1st floor windows of bowed section. Regular fenestration to upper floors; semicircular fanlight to all fenestration at ground in bowed section.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: glass shop window to outer left; 2 recessed doors to left; fanlights; timber door, flanking single windows to right. 2-leaf timber door with glass panels to bow; flanking single windows.

Timber sash and case windows, predominantly 2- or 12-pane; basement windows predominantly 8-pane timber sash and case with some 2-pane and 12-pane; variety of fanlights, predominantly geometric. Grey slate piended roof. Coped stacks with corniced cans. Individual decorative cast-iron balustrades to 1st floor windows of Nos 2, 9, 10, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and to ground floor window to left of door to No 7; continuous ironwork balconies to 3rd floor of Nos 14 and 17 Gardner's Crescent. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

RAILINGS: original spear-headed wrought-iron railings to street and flanking platts of Gardner's Crescent.

Statement of Special Interest

A group with 85-89 and 91-107 Morrison Street. Nos 1-25A Gardner's Crescent (the name coming from William Gardner who feued out the land) and 91-115 Morrison Street were built as a unified scheme, an outlier of Edinburgh's New Town.

From the outset the buildings comprised a large number of small and medium sized flats, the larger ones with more interesting internal detail being those in Gardner's Crescent. Considerable uniformity of external treatment is achieved with the plain ashlar frontage, the joints in the masonry line up with some of the astragals of the 12-pane sash and case glazing, unusual at this early date. The continuation of the cornice below 3rd floor cill level to either side of the 3-window bow joining the 2 blocks at the point of the 'V' ingeniously overcomes the awkwardness of the site by providing cohesion.

Rehabilitation work, principally of the corner flats, undertaken by McLeod and Traub in 1980.

Gardner's Crescent first appears on an 1828 Plan of Edinburgh and Leith labelled 'Gardener's Crescent'.

Listed building record and statutory address updated (2015). Previously listed as '1-25A (Inclusive nos) Gardener's Crescent and 109-115 (odd nos) Morrison Street including railings'.

References

Bibliography

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore.html CANMORE ID 52625

(1828) Plan of Edinburgh & Leith exhibiting all the present & intended improvements, etc. Edinburgh: W. Hunter & C. Smith

Gifford, J. McWilliam, C. and Walker, D. (1988) The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh. London: Penguin Books. pp. 61, 253, 265, 268.

McKean, C. and Walker, D. (1992) Edinburgh: An Illustrated Architectural Guide. Edinburgh : RIAS. p.136.

Cant, M. (1995) Edinburgh: Gorgie and Dalry. Edinburgh : Malcolm Cant Publications. p.18.

Colvin, H. (1995) A Biographical Dictionary Of British Architects 1600-1840. 3RD Edition. London : Yale University Press. p. 304.

Glendinning, M., MacInnes, R. and MacKechnie, A., (1996) A History of Scottish Architecture: from the Renaissance to the Present Day, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 564.

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.

Images

Elevation from northwest, 1-25A (Inclusive Numbers) Gardner’s Crescent and 109-115 (Odd Numbers) Morrison Street, Including Railings, Edinburgh, taken on clear day.
Elevation from southwest, 1-25A (Inclusive Numbers) Gardner’s Crescent and 109-115 (Odd Numbers) Morrison Street, Including Railings, Edinburgh, taken on clear day, van in foregournd.

Printed: 28/03/2024 22:26