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Summary

Description

John C Hay, 1875. Single storey with attic, 3-bay, rectangular-plan, semi-detached purpose-built golf club house in Greek Revival style over looking the open grounds of the golf course to which it was related. Tripartite squared and canted bays to front with slated details, flanking central stepped squared hoodmoulded window with plaque under, small bipartite stone dormers with king post pierced barge-boarded gablets flanking smaller central (now infilled) window. Entrance door to side with pilasters, paired slit windows and ornate palmette incised carved stone detailing and roof gablet above. Squared rubble with smooth ashlar margins with fine chip carved details to mullions in the style of Alexander Greek Thomson. Advance base course to bay windows. Later 20th century panel with stone carved heads of the 5 Musselburgh Open champions.

Aluminium framed windows. Slate roof with deep bracketed overhanging eaves. Stone shouldered dormer stacks with plain clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hopper.

BOUNDARY WALL: low coped dwarf wall to front and north return with later 20th century railing and gates.

INTERIOR: very fine Greek Revival style stepped and coffered ceiling with foliate medallion detailing to principal double height golf clubroom encompassing whole front elevation, also housing bar and later 20th century mezzanine. Timber panelling to window bays. Plain stair with turned timber banisters leading to first floor office rooms to rear.

Statement of Special Interest

10 Balcarres Road is a fine example of a purpose-built golf club house by a prominent architect with fine stone detailing and a strong historical association with the sport of golf and set overlooking the oldest golf course in the world. Balcarres Street has a long established history with golf with several other buildings on the street formerly being used as clubhouses; it is seen by many as the birthplace of the sport and the street was formerly known as Golf Place. These clubs all played on the 9 hole Musselburgh Links but gradually moved away in the later 19th century as the course became too crowded. The new 18 hole golf courses built at Monktonhall and Prestongrange also lead to a decline in usage of the Musselburgh Links.

The building, which cost around £5000 to construct, is shown on the 2nd edition map as a detached house, the flatted dwelling to the N side in the same style is therefore of a slightly later date. The Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society built the building and used it until 1895 at which point they moved to a new clubhouse at Whitehouse Road in Edinburgh (see separate listing: HB43941)

The Musselburgh Old Course Club claims to be the oldest golf club in the world however as minutes were not kept in the early years it is unproven. The club folded in the earlier 20th century and was reformed in 1982 by local golfers keen to revive the fortunes of the Musselburgh Links. The building was used as a private house and a dentist surgery for much of the 20th century before being bought by the Musselburgh Old Course Club in 1993 who had been using a cafe within the racecourse grounds as their club room since reforming in 1982.

Scotland is intrinsically linked with the sport of golf and it was the birthplace of the modern game played over 18 holes. So popular was golf in medieval Scotland that it was a dangerous distraction from maintaining military skills in archery and James II prohibited the playing of 'gowf' and football in 1457.

The 'Articles and Laws in Playing Golf', a set of rules whose principles still underpin the game's current regulations, were penned in 1744 by the Company of Gentlemen Golfers (now The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers). Improved transport links and increased leisure time as well as a rise in the middle classes from the mid 19th century onwards increased the popularity of the sport with another peak taking place in the early 1900s.

The sociable aspect of the game encouraged the building of distinctive clubhouses with bar and restaurant facilities. Purpose-built clubhouses date from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, previously clubs had used villas or rooms in an inn near to the course. Earlier clubhouses were typically enlarged in stages as the popularity of the game increased throughout the 19th and 20th century. The sport has grown further in popularity in recent years, especially overseas in places such as USA and Canada.

At the time of writing (2013), the governing body for amateur golf in Scotland, the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), reported around 550 golf courses in Scotland, representing a total membership of approximately 236,000 golf club members. Interestingly, 7 of the 14 venues where the Open Championship is held are in Scotland. Scotland has produced a number of famous golf sporting personalities ' historically, Old Tom Morris (1821-1908) and James Braid (1870-1950) were the pioneers of their time.

List description updated as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13).

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