Description

Pirie and Clyne, 1885. 2-storey and attic, 4-bay double villa with Egypto-Greek detailing. Rough-faced pink granite with grey granite bow windows, lintels and parapet, finely finished to margins. Grey granite base course; ground floor cill course; pilastered panelled timber doors with letterbox fanlights; moulded cills to 1st floor; continuous sunken fillet below lintels at 1st floor; grey granite lintel band course to 1st floor; 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, deep-set doors, pair of modern doors at Nos 88 and 88A, glazed panels flanking; single windows to 1st floor above, reveals waisted towards base; 3-light bowed windows through ground and 1st floors of bays to outer left and right, forming balcony to attic floor, pilastered mullions with sunken fillet at capital to 1st floor, pink granite navel paterae along parapets; pedimented attic floor flanked by 2 deep scrolls, window to each with decorative volutes below lintel, large decorative paterae centred in pediments, decorative stone finial to apex; pink granite navel paterae to parapet between pediments.

NE ELEVATION: gabled; window to centre of ground floor; single storey addition to outer right with doorway to No 86A to left return.

NW ELEVATION: not seen 2000.

SW ELEVATION: gabled; single storey addition to outer left.

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

INTERIORS: No 86: 1st floor flat, decorative frieze to principal room, remainder not seen 2000. No 86A: ground floor flat; mouldings survive, colonnettes at angles of bow window. Nos 88 and 88A not seen 2000.

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 No 82-84 and Nos 90-92 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, 78-80, 82-84, 90-92, 94-96 and 98 Hamilton Place, Whitehill Bowling Green Wall and 87 Fountainhall Road (see separate listings). 86-88 Hamilton Place is part of J B Pirie (1851-1892) and Arthur Clyne's (1853-1924) finest terrace. 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. The navel-like paterae appear in the majority of the designs by the partnership. The paterae are probably a development of the sunflower (a favourite motif of the Aesthetic Movement) or daffodil. A variation of the patera is also a favourite motif of Alexander Thomson, who appears to have been a strong influence on Pirie in particular. The use of different colours of granite, as in 86-88 Hamilton Place, gives added interest to the decorative facades. The elaborate volutes flanking the attic windows are similar to waves. Many of Pirie's details appear to have a nautical theme, perhaps because his father was a sea-captain. The scrolled horseshoe doorways can also be seen elsewhere on Hamilton Place. Of note also are the bowed windows, which were unusual at that time as canted bays were much cheaper (and is employed at some of the houses, perhaps for this reason). The bows are more than a semi-circle, another feature used by Alexander Thomson, which Pirie and Clyne may have seen at "Croyland" 202 Ayr Road Newton Mearns (1875) or at Holmwood, Cathcart (1857-8) (see separate listings), which was also illustrated in Blackie's Villa and Cottage Architecture. Despite the similarities with the work of Thomson, Pirie and Clyne's designs are also 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 Q17576555

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

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)