Craig House | |
---|---|
Location | Craighouse Road, Edinburgh, EH10 5FA |
Listed Building – Category A | |
Official name | Craig House (Old) |
Designated | 14 December 1970 |
Reference no. | LB28046 |
Listed Building – Category A | |
Official name | Craig House |
Designated | 28 August 1979 |
Reference no. | LB27736 |
Craig House is a historic house and estate located on Easter Craiglockhart Hill, between the Craiglockhart and Morningside areas of Edinburgh, Scotland. Old Craig House dates back to the 16th century, and it succeeded an earlier building. In the late 19th century it was purchased by the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and the site was developed as Craig House Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, which included substantial new buildings. Following refurbishment, the site was opened in 1996 as the Craighouse Campus of Edinburgh Napier University.
Craig House is recorded in the reign of King David II, and in 1528 the Abbot of Newbattle granted a charter here. The original house was burned down by the Earl of Hertford in 1544, during the Rough Wooing. [1]
The present Old Craig House is dated 1565, although the architecture suggests a later date. [2] It was built for the Symsounes of Craighouse. It later belonged to the Dick family, and was extended to the north-west around 1746. The historian John Hill Burton (1809–1881) lived at Craig House. [3] There is a monument commemorating his son WK Burton's contribution to Japan at the garden wall. [4]
In the 1880s it was described as "a weird-looking mansion, alleged to be ghost-haunted" in Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh. [5]
In the 1880s, Dr Thomas Clouston, Physician Superintendent of the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum (later the Royal Edinburgh Hospital), oversaw the purchase of Craig House by the managers of the Asylum in 1878. [6] The site was intended for paying patients, and development was funded through the sale of land at the existing Asylum in Morningside. [7] The new buildings at Craig House were planned by Clouston, and designed under the control of architect Sydney Mitchell in 1887 (whose father Dr Arthur Mitchell was on the board of directors at the asylum). The actual job architect responsible for the design was Charles Henry Greig rather than Mitchell himself, despite Mitchell being widely credited for the design. [8] Work began in 1889 on the large main building, a hospital block, and three detached villas, all of which were complete by 1894. The main building, New Craig House, was intentionally grand, resembling a country house or hotel rather than an institution. It is designed in a picturesque "free Renaissance" style, with elements taken from French Renaissance architecture. The interiors include a great hall and a billiard room. [7]
From 1906 to 1914 work was executed by Mitchell's assistant Ernest Auldjo Jamieson (acting as sole partner from 1909). [9]
The hospital was renamed the Thomas Clouston Clinic in 1972 but, after the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in the early 1990s. [10]
In 1994, Edinburgh Napier University purchased the 60 acres (24 ha) estate, and commenced a £14 million refurbishment, funded by a Historic Building Grant. The new campus opened in September 1996. [11] The campus was home to the social science and communication arts courses, as well as the Ian Tomlin School of Music. [12]
In March 2011, Edinburgh Napier University sold the campus for residential development, and had moved out completely by 2013. [13] The students and staff who were based at the Craighouse campus were moved to Edinburgh Napier University's Sighthill, Merchiston and Craiglockhart campuses. [14] 55°55′23″N3°13′41″W / 55.92306°N 3.22806°W
The Craighouse estate had been acquired by Mountgrange Real Estate Opportunity Fund (MoREOF) through Craighouse Limited (Isle of Man) with the MoREOF fund being administered by Mountgrange Investment Management LLP. [15] [16] A consortium was formed by Edinburgh Napier University, Mountgrange and Sundial Properties for the purpose of undertaking development on the estate. [17] The planned development comprised renovation of the existing buildings and extensive residential new build throughout the grounds of the estate, totaling approximately 116 new units. [18] [19]
The proposals as advanced by The Craighouse Partnership met with considerable opposition due to the plans to build on the open green space within the estate. The Friends of Craighouse, [20] a campaign group opposing any new build at Craighouse, collected some 5,000 signatures on a petition against new build development. [21] However, the development went ahead and the first residents moved into the building in July 2019. [22]
Craiglockhart Hydropathic, now a part of Edinburgh Napier University and known as Craiglockhart Campus, is a building with surrounding grounds in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh, Scotland. As part of a large extension programme by the university in the early 2000s the original building and surrounding campus underwent significant restoration and modernisation; as a result, many of the original interior features of the building are no longer visible. The exterior of the building has been preserved.
Edinburgh Napier University is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napier. The technical college was inaugurated as a university in 1992 by Lord Douglas-Hamilton, becoming Napier University. In 2009, the university was renamed Edinburgh Napier University.
William Burn was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival, often referred to as the golden age of Scottish architecture.
Craiglockhart is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east, and Longstone and Kingsknowe to the west. The Water of Leith is also to the west.
Morningside is a district and former village in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies alongside the main arterial Morningside Road, part of an ancient route from Edinburgh to the south west of Scotland. The original village served several farms and estates in the area. In the 19th century, it developed as a residential suburb, its growth being stimulated by the arrival of a railway service and other transport improvements.
Merchiston is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 3+1⁄2 miles southwest of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-west it extends to Lanark Road and to the south-west to the City Bypass. Bonaly is a subsection of the area on its southern side.
Holy Corner is a colloquial name for a small area of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the area more properly known as Burghmuirhead, itself part of the lands of Greenhill. Holy Corner lies between the areas of Bruntsfield and Morningside.
The Royal Edinburgh Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Morningside Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lothian.
John Notman was a Scottish-born American architect and landscape architect based in Philadelphia. He designed buildings, cemeteries, churches and country estates in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and helped popularize Italianate architecture in the United States.
Sir John James Burnet was a Scottish Edwardian architect who was noted for a number of prominent buildings in Glasgow and London. He was the son of the architect John Burnet, and later went into partnership with his father, joining an architectural firm which would become an influential force in British Modern architecture in the 20th century.
Craiglockhart Castle is a ruined tower house in the Craiglockhart district of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Hippolyte Jean Blanc was a Scottish architect. Best known for his church buildings in the Gothic revival style, Blanc was also a keen antiquarian who oversaw meticulously researched restoration projects.
Arthur George Sydney Mitchell was a Scottish architect. He designed a large number of bank branches, country houses, churches, and church halls. His most significant commissions include the housing developments at Well Court and Ramsay Garden, both in Edinburgh.
Sir Thomas Smith Clouston was a Scottish psychiatrist.
Archibald Campbell Douglas was a Scottish architect based primarily in Glasgow. He designed many churches in Glasgow and Edinburgh, especially those for the Free Church of Scotland.
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.
Ernest Arthur Oliphant Auldjo Jamieson FRIBA MID was a Scottish architect operating in the early 20th century. He specialised in country houses, largely for wealthy family friends. From after the First World War he also got many commissions from local authorities for social housing, plus several commissions related to hospitals and asylums.
John Ross McKay RIBA (1884–1962) was a 20th-century Scottish architect. He was also President of the Clan MacKay Society. He gives his name to the J R McKay Medal for architectural students.