Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Robert Wilson, 1894. Large 3-storey symmetrical Scottish Renaissance Board School with janitor's house en suite, single storey outbuildings and play shelters; basement to rear; 3rd storey breaking parapet as attic; grey squared and snecked rubble, red ashlar dressings; rounded arrises; base course; string course above ground and 1st floor; 1st floor cill course; heavy eaves cornice to main block; ashlar mullions; dormerheads with coped triangular pediments; angle pilasters with stone ball finials. SE (FRONT) ELEVATION: 10-bay with 2-storey recessed entrance pavilions flanking. 4 central bays with bipartite windows to each floor and bay; dormer windwos above; inscription 'Bruntsfield Public School' above ground floor. Projecting 3-bay gables to outer right and left with angle pilasters and 2-storey advanced bay to centre with angle pilasters and tripartite windows to ground and 1st floor, apron to 1st floor window panelled with figurative roundel carved with educational theme, single windows in outer bays; in gablehads diamond-panelled balustrade with ball finials to tripartite corniced window flanked by pilasters, semi-circular pediment with heraldic carving; blind arrowslit window above; coped skews, apex and skewputts with ball finials. Recessed 2-bay entrance pavilions with angle pilasters; 2-leaf panelled doors with 3-pane rectangular fanlights and moulded margins to inner bays, pulvinated frieze dentilled cornice and scrolled plaque above inscribed 'BOYS' to right pavilion and 'GIRLS' to left, small bipartite windows above; slightly advanced 2-storey outer bays of ashlar with tripartite windows to each floor, 1st floor window breaking eaves with finialled bellcast roof; pedestal with decorative cast-iron lamp flanking each doorway.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: 12-bay; projecting 4-bay outer pavilions with angle pilasters; blank bay towards centre; outer 3 bays gabled with single windows at basement and ground floor level (1 tripartite window at basement level, left projection with rear door right of centre): central window in gableheads corniced with pilasters and semi-circular pediment flanked by single windows; elevations of returns gabled with bipartite windwos flanked by single windows to each floor, blind arrowslit windows in gableheads (tall square corniced stalk to heating plant later raised in brick in place of outer right windows on return of left projection in re-entrant angle). Central bays with architraved bipartite windows at ground floor; bipartite windows with cornices, friezes, pilasters and heavy mullions and transoms at 1st floor; bracketted eaves cornice above. Single storey 3-bay flat-roofed projection in re-entrant angle of left projection with 2 bipartite windows to left.

SW ELEVATION: 10-bay; 3-bay projection to outer left with central bipartite windows flanked by single windows to each floor; 1st floor bipartite window framed by ball finialled pilasters and breaking eaves with shaped gable and water spout finial; centre 4 bays comprised of 2 linked gables with corniced apex stacks and angle pilasters, 2 bipartite windows per floor under each gable, stepped narrow tripartites in gableheads; return elevation of 2-storey entrance pavilion in bays right of centre with single windows to each floor and blind oculus in gablehead; gabled dormer with corniced apex stack and bipartite window to main block behind; recessed outer right bay with tripartite windows to ground floor and 1st floor and bipartite dormer above.

NE ELEVATION: mirror of SW elevation.

JANITOR'S HOUSE: 2-storey, 1-bay house with gabled elevation to Montpelier sited to NE corner of playground adjoining neighbouring tenement; front elevation with corniced tripartite window at ground floor and bipartite window with semi-circular pediment above at 1st floor, ball finialled gable; side elevation with 2-storey square entrance porch left of centre, healf-piend roof, 1st floor cill course, small bipartite windows to each floor; corniced doorway on return to right re-entrant angle; narrow single windows to bay to right of centre; rear elevation with unevenly arranged single windows.

OUTBUILDINGS AND SHELTERS: arranged around perimeter of ground to rear and sides; piend roofs; stone outbuildings detailed as main block; play shelters with slender cast-iron columns supporting open timber roofs. Multi-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows, mostly 12-pane; green slate roof, lead flashings; decorative cast-iron gutterheads and brackets; bellcote crowning main block with slate-hung base, timber birdcage bellcote and Sterling Town Hall - type leaded roof.

INTERIOR: not seen 1992.

BOUNDARY WALL AND RAILINGS: high coped rubble walls meeting side elevations at right angle (abutted by modern extensions), low rubble boundary wall and gatepiers to front with plain cast-iron railings.

Statement of Special Interest

Wilson succeeded Lambie Moffat and preceeded J Carfrae as architect to the School Board and thus designer of several Edinburgh schools.

References

Bibliography

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.