Description

Pirie and Clyne, circa 1886. 2-storey and attic, 4-bay double villa with Egypto-Greek detailing. Rough-faced grey granite with finely finished to margins. Dark grey granite base course; ground floor cill course; pilastered panelled timber doors with letterbox fanlights; parapet between pediments of principal elevation.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical; 4-bay, comprising 2 2-bay mirrored, semi-detached villas. Round-arched doorways to centre bays of ground floor, scrolled horseshoe surrounds with keystone details, deep-set doors flanked by glazed panels; single windows to 1st floor above, with recessed lintels, supporting swept-up parapet. Pair of windows with bowed architraves to flanking bays to left and right, oversized pilaster between each, supporting 3-light oriel window to centre of 1st floor above, steeply pitched piended stone roof to each. Pedimented attic floor flanked by 2 deep scrolls, tripartite window to each, decorative stone finial to apex, wallhead stack flanking pediments to inside.

NE ELEVATION: gabled; addition to right of ground floor.

NW ELEVATION: not seen 2000.

SW ELEVATION: gabled; addition to left of ground floor.

Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows. Corniced gablehead and wallhead stacks with circular cans. Grey slate roof with lead ridge. Stone skews. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIORS: mouldings and doors survive; stairs with distinctively turned balusters.

GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: low rough-faced pink granite Aberdeen bond walls to S with grey granite snecking and coping; gatepiers to left and right, shared with Nos 74-76 and Nos 82-84 Hamilton Place (see separate listings), grey granite shaft swept up from plinth, rough-faced pink granite neck surmounted by scrolled cap, rubble dividing walls to E and W.

Statement of Interest

A-Group with 63, 79, 62, 64-66, 68-70, 72, 74-76, 82-84, 86-88, 90-92, 94-96 and 98 Hamilton Place, Whitehill Bowling Green Wall and 87 Fountainhall Road (see separate listings). 78-80 Hamilton Place is part of J B Pirie (1851-1892) and Arthur Clyne's (1853-1924) finest terrace. It was built primarily for John Morgan (b. 1841), an Aberdeen builder who specialised in high quality granite cutting and carving. Morgan was a close friend of Pirie, and was involved in much of the work undertaken by the partnership. The majority of Pirie and Clyne's houses on Hamilton Place follow the same formula: symmetrical double villas of mirrored plan, 2 gables or pediments to the attic, with a parapet running between. Although the houses follow the same composition, each pair is slightly different from the next, unified by the massing, masonry techniques and variations of the same decorative motifs. From the plans it would appear that the houses were designed in outline first, then details were added later. 78-80 Hamilton Place is a more restrained version of 82-84 Hamilton Place (Pirie and his family lived in No 84, which might explain the profusion of ornament used). The scrolled horseshoe doorways can be seen elsewhere on Hamilton Place. The use of the 1st floor oriel windows supported on an oversized pilaster, as well as being found at Nos 82-84 and 90-92 Hamilton Place, can be seen at its best at 50 Queen's Road (see separate listing), Pirie's masterpiece. Pirie and Clyne's designs are highly individual. Their buildings combine High Victorian gothic, Greek, Scots Baronial, Aesthetic Movement and even proto-Art Nouveau motifs.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17576543

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)