Description
Designed and built in 1906 in an Arts and Crafts style, by James Linton Lawrence and Victor 'Spig' Spiganovicz, as a community building with later alterations, set on a main street in the southside of Edinburgh. A symmetrical, three-storey purpose designed former Lads' Club built in brick with a glazed brick band course to the ground floor and rendered walls above. The ground floor is made up of a central shop-style window flanked by a shallow-arched, glazed entrance doorway to the left and an open white glazed brick wide vehicular pend to the right. The first floor has three tall windows to brick faced central section; flanking rendered bays with shallow arched windows, rising to shouldered gablets with blank stone ovals at their apex. The gablets flank a deeply set overhanging dentilled eaves.
The roof was altered in the 1950s and has pitches to the north and south each with large banks of glazed rooflights, and it is likely the two box dormers were also added at this time. The large flat roofed section to the centre has two tall stacks which may be casings for telecommunications equipment. These later alterations and additions are not included in the listing.
The rear elevation (east) is brick and has an irregular window pattern of large classroom style windows to the left of the first floor with smaller ancillary windows to the right. The south elevation is blank with render to the upper floor and brick below outlining the former gable of the demolished 19th century building that predated and adjoined it.
To the rear of the building is a garage complex (31 Ratcliffe Terrace) which is accessed by the pend running through 27-29 Ratcliffe Terrace. It is likely late 19th century and pre-dates the Institute building. A small, uncovered yard space is formed between the garage complex and former Lads' Institute. The building consists of a single storey, whitewashed rendered building, adjoining the northern boundary, with a small whitewashed lean-to structure, with a doorway in the return, projecting into the yard. The majority of the garage complex spans the footprint of the remainder of the plot. The entrance into this larger section, covering some of the whitewashed, gable-ended west elevation of the garage, is by large industrial shutter doors. The garage complex is a plain, urban-industrial structure with a utilitarian purpose and has undergone changes since first built and does not contribute to the special interest of 27-29 Ratcliffe Terrace.
The interior plan form retains the arrangement of the large open hall/gymnasium spaces from when it was used as an institute however the larger spaces at the first-floor level have later partitions. While there are a number of modern features now included in the building, decorative features dating to the time of construction and its subsequent use as a YMCA survive and include: a large open stair to the left of the plan with an Art Deco style handrail; a full width and height hardwood glazed timber screen with scalloped timber detailing and mottled glass at the first-floor landing; and a yellow and black tiled Vitrolite bathroom and similar Vitrolite detailing in a room above.
Historical development
The Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1893, published 1896) shows an earlier building on the site with a gap to its south allowing access to a long courtyard of buildings to the rear around the north, east and south borders of the site. The current building replaced this and first appears on the third revision of the Ordnance Survey Map (revised 1912, published 1914) and is shown with a pend with some of the buildings still surviving to the rear.
Victor 'Spig' Spiganovicz established the Causewayside Lads' Institute in 1903 with temporary premises on Duncan Street to provide a boys club offering recreation, practical training and education for young males. Within six months, 50 boys had enrolled, and a committee was set up to provide a permanent building. The Edinburgh Evening News published an article in February 1905 advertising that the Institute was trying to buy a premises on Causewayside to convert the site into a Lads' Club building with a hall, gymnasium, reading refreshment and work rooms. They were seeking to raise £2150 and an anonymous donor had already donated £500. A design for the building was drafted by Spiganovicz's friend, James Linton Lawrence, and Spiganovicz is believed to have carried out the detailed work on the design. The project cost £1500 to build and opened in mid-1907.
An aerial photograph (NHRE Ref: 384946) from 1929 shows the Institute flanked by the 18th century buildings that predated it. Spiganovicz wrote a memoir called "Mystery Man Again: reminiscences of a Tramp by a Tramp in the Scottish Lowlands” and a photograph within it shows a close up of the newly built Lads Institute. The front elevation is depicted as largely unchanged from its current form, apart from alterations to the roofline. He describes that the building would "enable the boys to become good and useful citizens worthy of the beautiful city in which they lived”.
Spiganovicz was also integral in setting up the first Boy Scout movement in Scotland forming one of the first scout groups in the 4th (Midlothian) Troop with Lawrence in Duncan Street, near to the Lads' Institute. The two men were credited with owing much to the Scouting movement in Scotland.
The loss of many of the Spig's lads to the war effort during the First World War led to the Institute's closing and in 1919 it was taken over by the YMCA organisation, which had similar ambitions to the original use. Information from the owner (2025) states there was a fire in the roof in the 1950s after which the roof was replaced with the iron structure and included the large banks of rooflights. A newspaper reference to the building from 1972 states 27 Ratcliffe Terrace was for sale or let as offices. Similar advertisements have been published since then and in many cases noting the top floor was well lit as a drawing office.
Currently (2026) the building is vacant offices and the pend continues to give access to the separate commercial garage at the rear (No. 31 Causewayside).
Statement of Special Interest
The former Lads' Institute at 27-29 Ratcliffe Terrace Edinburgh meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- The building's good Arts and Crafts design is representative of the style and retains its historic character despite later alterations. The interior also retains some good individual design features from the early 20th century.
- The interest of the designer, Victor Spiganovicz, is of special interest as he was directly involved in the establishment of the Lads' Institute movement in Edinburgh.
- As a purpose-built Lads' Institute, it is a rare example of its building type. Only a very small number are known to have been built, most dating to the early 20th century.
- It has social historical interest for its association with the reforming aims of the institute which promoted the improvement of young boys.
In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing:
modern additions to roof (chimney stacks, dormers, glazed skylights and telecommunication installations) and garage complex at rear (31 Ratcliffe Terrace).
Architectural interest
Design
The former Lads' Institute principal elevation is designed in a contemporary Arts and Crafts style, characterised in the proportions of the windows and gablets, the curved detailing of the original central ground floor window, the elongated windows, and use of half-rendering and red brick. The gentle angle of the lower part of the slate roof and its deep overhanging bracketed eaves is also typical of the style. The design of the elevation, although proportioned to house communal recreation hall areas, retains a domestic character, typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, and would likely have been specifically designed to be welcoming to its young patrons.
The Arts and Crafts movement began in England with the theories of William Morris as a reaction to the increased industrialisation in 19th century society and embraced new ideas about the place of art and beauty in daily life. Architectural designs aspired to a more simplified informal style which broke with the more formal building and interior design that preceded it. The Arts and Crafts movement gained momentum in Scotland from the late 1880s, and architects such as Robert Lorimer, Frank Deas and A G Sydney Mitchell became well-known proponents of the style. The style was popular for domestic buildings but was also used widely in schools, churches and public buildings such as town halls up until the 1920s.
Although the Lads' Institute's design was a collaboration between Spiganovicz and Lawrence, rather than by experienced architects, it successfully uses elements and motifs inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement of the time.
The use of rendered brick in the construction was likely to keep costs down, however, the design also incorporates flourishes of more detailed elements in the exposed glazed brick to the ground floor and the carved stone window surrounds.
The purpose-built plan form of its large communal rooms remains readable despite some later partitions. The interior has been altered, but overall retains some high quality, early features which add to the overall authenticity of the building. It has a large open staircase which gives some grandeur to the design for a boys' social club. The YMCA may have carried out interior alterations such as the Art Deco bespoke glazed doorway with scalloped carved details as well as the Vitrolite bathroom which likely survives largely as it was first designed.
The input of Spiganovicz, the founder of the Lads' Institute, in the building's design is also of special interest. Victor James de Spiganovicz was born in Odessa in 1881, the son of Baron Spiganovicz, a Polish-Lithuania nobleman, and his wife, Lyudmilla Elizabeth Prout. Upon his father's death in 1892, his mother moved to Edinburgh with the family and Victor attended the Royal High School before training as an architect. He worked for the Edinburgh School Board architects Robert Wilson and John Alexander Carfrae. From 1908 he spent several months in America before starting his own practice in Edinburgh and he was admitted to LRIBA in 1911 when his office was at 1 South Charlotte Street. The Dictionary of Scottish Architects records a small list of works, perhaps because he focussed more on philanthropic actions for youth after being exposed to poverty when working for the school board. A pamphlet by him entitled 'Modern Humanity' had been published by J Bain & Sons earlier that year and was described in The Scotsman as 'a descriptive essay which touches lightly, yet thoughtfully, on the characteristics of the various ages of man, and on the pleasures and riddles of life'. His autobiography was entitled 'Mystery man again - Reminiscences of a Tramp' (1924) and in 1960 he was the subject of "This is Your Life” television programme.
James Linton Lawrence has a small entry on the Dictionary of Scottish Architects with no jobs listed although it does note he had offices local to the Lads' Institute on both Salisbury Place and South Clerk Street.
Setting
When built, 27-29 Ratcliffe Terrace was surrounded by 18th century houses and shops and was the tallest building within its neighbouring group of buildings. Its setting has been altered since the time it was built, and the earlier buildings have been replaced by a 1930s brick garage and a gap site. Its distinctive Arts and Crafts principal elevation is notable within its immediate setting.
Historic interest
Historic interest is in such things as a building's age, rarity, social historical interest and associations with people or events that have had a significant impact on Scotland's cultural heritage. Historic interest is assessed under three headings:
Age and rarity
Lads' Institutes were set up as recreational and sports clubs in the early 20th century to cater specifically to younger boys who were not settling into the school system and differed from other reforming types of clubs that had previously been for working men. Only a few purpose-built premises for such organisations were ever built throughout Britain but notably, there were two established in Edinburgh (Fountainbridge Institute), and another was set up in an existing building (Pleasance Trust). Only a small number of Lads' Institutes are known to have existed across the rest of Britain, the most well-known was the Salford Lads' Club which is a purpose-built recreational and sports club for young men, opened in 1904 one of only two listed in England.
Other organisations of a similar purpose known in Scotland include working men, seamen or mechanics institutes, which were set up to provide accommodation, training and gainful employment for young working men. The Lads' Institute in Ratcliffe Terrace was founded for younger boys of school age who were not attending school and is a rare example of its specific building type.
Social historical interest
Social historical interest is the way a building contributes to our understanding of how people lived in the past, and how our social and economic history is shown in a building and/or in its setting.
The building has special social historical interest because it directly represents the move towards social reform in Scotland in the early 20th century. The sentiment and philanthropic basis of the organisation is complemented by the use of the Arts and Crafts style, which was also aligned with social reform ideals during this period.
Association with people or events of national importance
There is no association with a person or event of national importance, however Victor Spiganovicz was a well-known local figure in Edinburgh and had some national recognition during his lifetime.