Carlton Terrace, Edinburgh

Last updated

9 Carlton Terrace, a four-bayed townhouse in the centre of the bend, with balustraded parapet and balconettes on the first floor 9 Carlton Terrace.JPG
9 Carlton Terrace, a four-bayed townhouse in the centre of the bend, with balustraded parapet and balconettes on the first floor

Carlton Terrace (known as Carlton Place from around 1830 until 1842) is a residential street in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on the east side of Calton Hill, at the eastern extremity of the New Town, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995. [1]

Contents

The street is in the form of an inverted crescent, a long, hairpin curved terrace of 19 classical town houses, linking together with Regent Terrace and Royal Terrace in a 'necklace' around the hill. Built on the west side of a setted street, the terrace faces sloping gardens descending down to Abbeyhill, across to Holyrood, and over to the heights of Arthur's Seat.

Residents enjoy access to Regent Gardens.

Architecture

Design

5 Carlton Terrace, with original fanlight designed by Playfair 5Carlton Tdoor1.jpg
5 Carlton Terrace, with original fanlight designed by Playfair

The Greek Revival architect William Henry Playfair designed Carlton Terrace in the 1820s, and a number of his original drawings, dating from 1821 to 1831, have survived in the Edinburgh University Library. An early drawing dated 1821 (number 1036) shows a design with rustication at ground floor level which was later discarded, and his final design emerged in a series of drawings done in 1825. [2]

Strongly influenced by ideas of the Picturesque, Playfair considered the individual characteristics of the site in making his design. [3] Unlike Regent and Royal Terraces, there were no external columns or pilasters. However, like Regent Terrace, the buildings were two-storeyed with rectangular windows, with no rustication, and had identical fanlights to those in the other terrace (which can still be seen in six of the houses, the first five and number 8).

The first four and the last six houses had straight 3-bay front elevations, [4] but in the middle Playfair created nine wedge-shaped houses with curved 4-bay elevations. [5] With three exceptions, the houses had balustraded parapets, a feature along Royal Terrace, but not used in Regent Terrace.

The houses are now all category A listed buildings.

Construction

Based on a diagram of the development drawn by Playfair in 1831, we know that the terrace was feued by six builders, or sub-architects, who were on strict instructions to follow Playfair's precise design instructions. [6] One of these, John Neill, responsible for numbers 5, 6, 16, 17 (and the respective mews), occupied the first completed house in 1830, which was number 17. [7] Within the next six years, all the remaining houses were completed and occupied.

Former residents

Listed by address:

Building use: townhouses to hotels and offices to flat conversions

The terrace was designed as a series of individual townhouses, which they remained throughout the 19th century. Some of the households were large, and each included an average of three resident servants. [7]

Following the social changes after the First World War, up to half of the houses were turned into small private hotels, which in some cases lasted down to this century. Furthermore, from the 1930s, there were offices, including the Commissioner for Special Areas, followed by the Royal Observer Corps and the Scottish Home Office in numbers 13 and 14. [7] Towards the end of the 20th century, the South Edinburgh School of Nursing was at 15, 16, and 17 (still indicated by a marble step with Carlton House in black letters [8] ) and the Ingleby Gallery of modern art was at number 6.

In 1934, the owner of number 13 asked the George Heriot Trust to change the title deeds in order to allow him to divide the property, the first attempt anywhere in the three terraces (Regent, Royal and Carlton) to create apartments. The case went to court and the application was refused. [7]

Subsequently, the demand for smaller units became irresistible and many of the houses were indeed converted into residential flats. Today the street is entirely residential with no offices or hotels. Only four or five townhouses remain, the other houses being typically divided floor by floor, or in some cases an upper house on top of a separate basement and garden flat.

Carlton Terrace Mews

Carlton Terrace Mews in April 2017 Carltonterracemews April2017a.jpg
Carlton Terrace Mews in April 2017

Each Carlton Terrace townhouse was designed by Playfair to have its own stable mews, 19 units for 19 houses, located in a circle within the bend of the road. This was unlike Regent and Royal Terrace which only had 22 mews for 74 townhouses. The units were feued, house by house with the terrace in the 1830s, but may have been built later. [7]

Playfair stipulated the exact size of the mews before they were built. They were two-storey dwellings with horses and carriages below, and the coachmen's living accommodation above. During the early 20th century, the mews were converted into garages, and more recently some of the ground-floor garages have been turned into living accommodation. The mews have windows looking into the back street but not outwards towards the terrace. In the centre there is a shared garden, where an Anderson air-raid shelter was located during the Second World War. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Henry Playfair</span> Scottish architect (1790-1857)

William Henry PlayfairFRSE was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town and many of Edinburgh's neoclassical landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calton Hill</span> Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland

Calton Hill is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Town, Edinburgh</span> Central area of Edinburgh, Scotland

The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street, facing Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town across the geological depression of the former Nor Loch. Together with the West End, the New Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Old Town in 1995. The area is also famed for the New Town Gardens, a heritage designation since March 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Grange, Edinburgh</span> Human settlement in Scotland

The Grange is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hill to the south. It is a conservation area characterised by large early Victorian stone-built villas and mansions, often with very large gardens. The Grange was built mainly between 1830 and 1890, and the area represented the idealisation of country living within an urban setting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dugald Stewart Monument</span>

The Dugald Stewart Monument is a memorial to the Scottish philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753–1828). It is situated on Calton Hill overlooking the city of Edinburgh and was designed by Scottish architect William Henry Playfair.

Frederick Thomas Pilkington (1832-1898), pupil of his father, was a "Rogue" British architect, practising in the Victorian High Gothic revival style. He designed mostly churches and institutional buildings in Scotland. Typical of his work is the Barclay Church in Edinburgh, a polychrome stone structure with early French Gothic details.

Sir Mitchell Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baronet, FRSE, FSA(Scot) was a British merchant and businessman who served as the Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1897 to 1900. He was also a Director of the Bank of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent Terrace</span>

Regent Terrace is a residential street of 34 classical 3-bay townhouses built on the upper south side of Calton Hill in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Regent Terrace is within the Edinburgh New and Old Town UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995.

Sir Hew Hamilton Dalrymple, was Unionist Party Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Calton Burial Ground</span> Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland

The Old Calton Burial Ground is a cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. It located at Calton Hill to the north-east of the city centre. The burial ground was opened in 1718, and is the resting place of several notable Scots, including philosopher David Hume, scientist John Playfair, rival publishers William Blackwood and Archibald Constable, and clergyman Dr Robert Candlish. It is also the site of the Political Martyrs' Monument, an obelisk erected to the memory of a number of political reformers, and Scotland's American Civil War Memorial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Chesser (architect)</span> Scottish architect

John Chesser (1819-1892) was a nineteenth-century Scottish architect largely based in Edinburgh. He was described as "the prime exponent of terrace design at the time". A very high number of his works are now category A listed buildings, evidencing the quality of his work, particularly in the West End of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Kinnear</span> British architect

Charles George Hood Kinnear FRIBA ARSA FRSE was one half of Peddie & Kinnear partnership, one of Scotland’s most renowned and prodigious architectural firms. They were noted for their development of the Scots Baronial style, typified by Cockburn Street in Edinburgh, which evokes a highly medieval atmosphere. Kinnear was also a pioneer photographer credited with inventing the bellows attachment on early cameras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Chalmers Crawford</span>

Francis Chalmers Crawford FRSE (1851–1908) was a Scottish stockbroker of fame as an amateur botanist and ornithologist. Saxifraga crawfordii is named after him. He served as President of the Scottish Microscopical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tait (architect)</span> Scottish architect

John Tait (1787-1856) was a Scottish architect operating in the first half of the 19th century responsible for several fine streets in Edinburgh all of which are listed buildings. One of his creations, 15 Rutland Square, houses the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent, Royal and Carlton Terrace Gardens</span>

The Regent, Royal and Carlton Terrace Gardens are private communal gardens in the New Town area of Edinburgh, EH7. They lie over a 4.8-hectare (12-acre) site on the east side of Calton Hill. The gardens have been listed on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes as part of the New Town gardens heritage designation since March 2001. The gardens form some of the collection of New Town Gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Terrace, Edinburgh</span> Street in Edinburgh, Scotland

Royal Terrace is a grand street in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the north side of Calton Hill within the New Town and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995, built on the south side of a setted street, facing the sloping banks of London Road Gardens, formerly Royal Terrace Gardens, with views looking north towards Leith and the Firth of Forth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Road Gardens, Edinburgh</span>

London Road Gardens are one of the collection of New Town Gardens located close to the city centre of Edinburgh in the New Town, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995. They occupy a long strip of land from east to west along the lower northern slope of Calton Hill, with an area of 4.37 hectares. The gardens are notable for their large, old trees including limes and some fine, surviving elms, also spring flowers, particularly daffodils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Edinburgh</span> Overview of and topical guide to Edinburgh

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Edinburgh:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Allan of Glen</span> Scottish merchant

William Allan of Glen JP (1788–1868) was a 19th-century Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1829 to 1831.

References

  1. UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscription Accessed 2018-02-09
  2. Edinburgh University Library, Drawings by William Henry Playfair, numbers 1036-1048
  3. Listed building information for 1 Carlton Terrace, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 19 March 2018
  4. Listed building information for 2, 3, 4 Carlton Terrace, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 19 March 2018
  5. Listed building information for 12 Carlton Terrace, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 19 March 2018
  6. Edinburgh University Library, Drawings by William Henry Playfair, number 1046
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mitchell, Anne (1993), "The People of Calton Hill", Mercat Press, James Thin, Edinburgh, ISBN   1-873644-18-3.
  8. School of Nursing website entry for South Edinburgh School of Nursing 1974

Bibliography

55°57′23″N3°10′24″W / 55.9565°N 3.1734°W / 55.9565; -3.1734