Description

1849. 2-storey, 7-bay (1-5-1) symmetrical former Poorhouse. Stugged squared and coursed masonry; ashlar dressings. Base and eaves courses. Band course between ground and 1st floors on all elevations. Raised cills. Square windows at 1st floor.

W (BONNYRIGG ROAD, PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: painted doorpiece at centre, with consoled and bracketted cornice and blocking course; 2-leaf panelled door and circular glazing pattern to rectangular fanlight. Piended outer glazing pattern to rectangular fanlight. Piended outer bays advanced. Regularly disposed fenestration. Tripartite window at ground in bay to outer right; mullions removed from former tripartite window at ground in bay to outer left and modern glazing inserted.

S ELEVATION: 8-bay. Canted window with cornice and blocking course at ground in 3rd bay from left, modern door to right face. Modern fenestrated canted projection at ground in bay to right of centre. Modern door slapped in penultimate bay to right. Regularly disposed fenestration, except blank bay to outer left at ground. Wall running S adjoined to left.

E (DALHOUSIE ROAD) ELEVATION: 8-bay. Piended projection (1897) with broad chamfered corners in centre 2 bays: modern door to left on 2-bay E election; regular fenestration, bipartite windows at ground on single bay return elevations, window at 1st floor on chamfered angles. Modern timber and plastic lean-to porch in re-entrant angle to right. Broad door in 3rd bay from right; blocked window above. Regular fenestration in remaining bays.

N ELEVATION: 8-bay (5-3). Modern fenestrated canted projection at ground in 3rd bay from left. Regularly disposed fenestration, window

in bay to left of centre out-of-line to right. Modern flat-roofed

blook at ground in 3 bays to right of centre, linked to modern piend-roofed single storey concrete and pebble-dashed range to N.

Variety of glazing patterns: largely 12-pane in sash and case windows at ground to W; small-pane casement windows at 1st floor to W, S and N; largely 4-pane in sash and case windows to E; modern top-hopper glazing in remaining windows. Grey slates to shallow-pitch piended roof. Deep bracketted eaves. 2 rendered and lined centre stacks to W pitch; shouldered ashlar wallhead stack at centre of projection to E. Large canted slate-hung ventilator shaft to right of E pitch. Original cans.

ANCILLARY BUILDINGS: squared and coursed rubble single storey outbuilding to SW: eaves course, coped skews and bracketted skewputts to E gable; blocked door and flanking windows on N elevation.

Modern detached single storey concrete and pebble-dashed range to NE. Timber garden house to N. Modern single storey building to SE.

GATES, GATEPIERS, RAILINGS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: curved saddleback coped squared and coursed rubble wall running S adjoined to left of S elevation, with garden door to left. Curved wall adjoined to right of N elevation of ancillary building, and retaining wall adjoined to left of W elevation. Rubble boundary walls: rubble coped to Dalhousie Road, semicircular coped to S; later low saddleback coped rubble wall with gatepiers, wrought and cast-iron gates and railings to Bonnyrigg Road.

Statement of Interest

Originally known as Dalkeith Union Poor House, this building was the first Combination Poor House in Scotland. It was erected by Dalkeith Parochial Board, in conjunction with neighbouring parochial boards, for the parishes of Dalkeith, Newbattle, Newton and Cockpen; by 1871 it was serving 11 parishes. The foundation stone was laid on 1 September 1848, and the building was opened on 9 August 1849. Constructed at a cost of ?4058, the building could accommodate 120. It was extended in 1897 to provide additional accommodation for the sick. In the early 1950s, the building underwent important structural changes, with the dormitories being converted into bedrooms and the dining hall being converted into a reception hall; the single storey buildings to the N were presumably constructed at this time. Westfield Park was latterly used as an old people's home until 3 years ago; it is currently unoccupied (1990). There is scope for some favourable reinstatement of altered details.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17827217

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 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)