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Summary

Description

Basil Spence and Partners, 1957-60, (Peter Ferguson, partner-in-charge; Richard Cassidy, job architect; Engineers, T Harley Haddow & Partners). Modernist style L-plan municipal housing development consisting of 6-storey, 11-bay rectangular-plan flatted wing to W and row of 2-storey and basement terrace houses diposed at right angles to S of plan, linked by glazed curtain wall staircase block; on steeply sloping site near Newhaven harbour; designed as part of infill development adjacent to earlier tenements. Development encloses terraced landscaped courtyard with lock-up garages.

W RANGE (NOS 7, 9 AND 13): flats at first floor, maisonettes above; advanced shop unit at ground floor to left (No 9), stair tower with internal drying areas to outer bays. Reinforced concrete frame construction forming dressings to maisonettes, whinstone setts to ground and 1st floors and outer bays, glazed screen wall to lower floor of maisonettes, some with spandrel panels, vertical cedar boarding above; external infill walls of painted harl to rear (E elevation). Shop unit faced with vertical cedar boarding. Regular fenestration, concrete lintels, projecting cills. Angled concrete balconies with steel balustrades and timber detailing at 2nd and 4th floors of W elevation. Cantilevered gallery access at 1st, 2nd and 4th floors of E elevation with glazed steel balustrades. Flat arched pend to right of shop unit.

S RANGE (NOS 14-17): row of 3, 2-bay houses, to S of plan, running W-E; basement flat (No 17) to left. Cavity brick construction, predominantly harled, vertical cedar panel boarding to left bay of each property, whinstone setts basecourse, basement and forestairs. S (principal) elevation: single entrance door to right with square concrete canopy supported on a slender steel piloti; regular fenestration. Forestairs to left (No 17) oversailing basement. N (rear) elevation: regular fenestration; vertical cedar boarded aprons to windows at ground in right bay of each property; 4-bays to right at basement partially open to form drying areas.

Predominantly replacement uPVC glazing; original timber windows to shop unit, ground floor stores and stairtowers. Original 2-leaf glazed timber doors to common stair tower of W elevation with original ironmongery. Flat felt roof to W range, pitched felt roof to S range.

INTERIORS (partially seen 2010): 4 three-apartment flats, 18 three-apartment and 1 five-apartment maisonettes to W range; simple plan-forms of flats and maisonettes generally intact. Common stairs with walls of painted brick, some whinstone wall details, concrete stairs and steel balustrades. Laundry drying chambers on intermediate landings. Steel mesh pram stores at ground floor. 3 four-apartment houses and 1 two-apartment flat to S range; simple plan-forms predominantly intact.

LOCKUP GARAGES: 11-garages arranged in a U-plan to N section of rear courtyard. Roughcast brick with double-leaf vertical boarded doors.

Statement of Special Interest

Basil Spence's Laverockbank Avenue and Crescent development is an important example of Scottish post-war housing. The building is a remarkably striking response to the context and stands apart from the traditional contemporary housing schemes of the 1960s in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland. Derived from Continental modernism, Laverockbank demonstrates an early use of deck access in Scottish post-war architecture, a feature that became prevalent in later high rise housing development throughout Britain. This development marked a new approach to housing for Spence's practice; the larger scale apartment block utilising reinforced concrete frame construction and flat roofs. At Laverockbank Spence reworked the architectural detailing developed in his earlier lower density housing schemes. The building is a successful blend of the International Modern and vernacular idiom. Angled concrete balconies and glazed living room elevations are combined with timber cladding and reclaimed Newhaven granite setts. Practicality and modernity combined through the provision of basement stores, drying areas to the common stairs and courtyard, in-built storage to properties, waste chutes and a shop unit.

Following their Newhaven planning report (1952-3), Basil Spence and Partners were engaged, by Edinburgh Corporation to design housing schemes at two sites in Newhaven for residents of Newhaven displaced by slum clearance. Spence was awarded the Saltire Award in 1957 for his scheme at Great Michael Rise, Newhaven, Edinburgh (1957-9) (see separate listing). Laverockbank was the more difficult site, an infill site on steep hillside which had defeated Victorian tenement builders and 1920s villa builders alike. The style of the building is reminiscent of continental Modernism of the inter-war period, having concrete balconies to the living rooms of the maisonettes on the west elevation. These are angled to receive light from the south, yet allow a sea view to the N. An unnamed Czech hospital, which appeared in Building Scotland (1944), by Alan Reiach and Robert Hurd, may have inspired the design.

Sir Basil Spence was one of Scotland's most accomplished and prolific 20th century architects. He leapt to prominence during the Festival of Britain in 1951 as chief architect for the Exhibition of Industrial Power in Glasgow. Some of his most renowned works include Coventry Cathedral and the British Embassy in Rome. The practice was also profuse in the design of housing schemes, such as Dunbar Harbour Housing (1949-52, extended 1953-6), Great Michael Rise, Newhaven, Edinburgh (1957-9), Canongate, Edinburgh (1961-9) and Claremont Court, Edinburgh (1959-62) (see separate listings).

Many of the original windows and doors have been replaced with a variety of materials and glazing patterns. The original glazing pattern predominantly consisted of tilt and turn windows, which for larger openings to the maisonettes and terrace housing was combined with fixed pane sidelights. It is evident in photographs taken after completion from the Sir Basil Spence Collection and Spence, Glover & Ferguson Collection.

Listed as part of the Sir Basil Spence thematic listing survey (2009-11).

References

Bibliography

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