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Summary

Description

Basil Spence, 1957. 2-storey, 4-bay tenement blocks forming terrace, facing W. Symmetrical arrangement; rectangular-plan stepped down towards harbour. Painted harl with base walls and forestairs of granite setts (salvaged from roads). Exterior stairs with iron railings to 1st floor; single steel piloti supporting overhang. Projecting balconies with recessed patios; timber boarded panels; overhanging eaves.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: single door to ground beneath stair in bay to outer right. 2 single windows in bays to left; recessed patio and door to projecting balcony in bay to outer left. Exterior stair to 1st floor entry in bay to outer right. 1st floor fenestration mirrors that at ground.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: regularly fenestrated to both floors.

Replacement timber windows to No 11; original timber picture and casement windows to remaining openings. Grey slate roofs stepped down with hill; rendered ridge stacks to centre of each. Precast concrete coping to each stack; various cans.

Statement of Special Interest

B Group with Nos 2-16 New Lane and Nos 2, 4-12 and 14-20 Great Michael Rise, Nos 29, 30 and 33 Annfield (see separate list entries). Just as he did at Dunbar, here Spence made a deliberate attempt to combine modern and vernacular. Thus, thin iron railings, picture windows, projecting concrete balconies and exposed floor slabs are set within a whole reminiscent of that which stood previously on the site (see Cant p171). Stepped down towards the harbour with recessed entries, slated roofs and exterior stairs, the fishing village vernacular is echoed and a 20th century idiom - compare with Westmost Close, Newhaven, St Moran?s, Fife or Cross Wynd, Falkland. Drawing upon the tradition of such housing on Scotland?s East Coast, Spence set coloured harl against natural materials such as stone and slate. The whole was then surrounded by expanses of grass. Using setts salvaged from the road for base courses and forestairs, he repeated a practice developed at Dunbar where whitewashed walls were combined with red sandstone bases - a physical and intentionally visible combination of old and new. Completed in 1954, Spence?s Dunbar project won a Saltire Award and has subsequently been labelled "...an exemplar of urban conservation" (Edwards p39). 1957 saw the presentation of the same award for his work at Great Michael Rise. Both respectful of their surroundings and both promoting the importance of the past whilst meeting contemporary needs and looking to the future, Dunbar and Newhaven established Spence as a key figure in post war urban architecture.

References

Bibliography

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