Ryrie's, Heymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Description

Principal block 1868, incorporating early 19th century building; remodelling at ground and interior 1906, Robert MacFarlane Cameron. W block 1862 with alterations 1868. 2-storey Baronial public house; main block with panelled Scottish Renaissance entrance and ground floor windows, latter with Art Nouveau stained glass. 1st floor breaking eaves. Lower 2-storey property to W. Squared, snecked and stugged sandstone with droved ashlar long and short dressings. Stop- chamfered arrises to windows at 1st floor of main block. Crowstepped gables. Base course.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-bay gabled end elevation. At ground, single storey timber 2-sided canted entrance bay with stop-fluted pilasters, fascia and consoled cornice; to right round-headed panelled 2-leaf door; to left pair of round-headed windows. Parapet with panelled dies. Window to each bay at 1st floor. Gablehead stack.

N ELEVATION: 3-bay. At ground large basket arched tripartite windows, timbers panelled aprons and multi- pane leaded lights above; separated by piers with stopped roll-moulding. Fascia and cornice continued from entrance, supported on squat bracketed panelled pilasters at impost level. RYRIE & CO BONDERS BLENDERS ESTB. 1862 applied to fascia in gilded letters; wrought- iron lamps between pilasters. 1st floor windows, gablehead dormers; centre bay bipartite, ball finial to gable.

Lower recessed 3-bay property to W, rendered and stugged as masonry. 2-leaf panelled door to centre bay at ground in roll-moulded shouldered frame; blind round- headed moulded panel above; gablehead stack; stack with masonry as main block above string course. Ground floor windows in flanking bays, raised margins; hopper, stained glass as before and multi-pane leaded lights above; 1st floor windows under eaves.

W ELEVATION: rubble built; single storey addition at ground. Single window to 1st floor at right.

S ELEVATION: 3-bay main block with corbel course to 1st floor. Ground floor obscured by shops to Dalry Road. At 1st floor, single windows; central window hard up against eaves, flanking windows with gablehead dormers. Earlier property to left with blank rubble wall; rooflight. At ground elaborate leaded stained glass windows proclaiming types of drinks available - SPIRITS, WINES, BRANDIES, CORDIALS, MCEWANS 80/, PALE ALE.

1st floor with timber sash and case windows and 4-pane glazing (plate glass to bipartites).

Grey slates; coped stacks; skewputts. Cast-iron gutters and downpipes, rainwater heads with date 1868.

INTERIOR (E section): good Edwardian decorative scheme. Timber panelled inner doors to lobby with small-pane leaded glazing with words 'Bar'; wrought brass handles. Timber-beamed ceiling. Curved timber-panelled bar counter with bolection moulded upper edge. Gantry with mirrors, columns and decorative brackets above capitals; cornice with clock at centre.

Statement of Interest

Ryries is a little changed Edwardian public house which occupies a very prominent position at the junction of Dalry Road, Haymarket Terrace and Morrison Street and makes an important contribution to the townscape. It has good Baronial details and a Scottish Renaissance style wooden pub front. The interior of the E part has some attractive leaded and stained glass with lettering and a finely detailed carved gantry behind the bar.

Kirkwood's map of 1817 shows the earlier building on this site as the Haymarket weigh house. At some point before 1852 (possibly in 1842 at the same time as Haymarket Station was opened) the corner building had become an inn. It is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as 'The Railway Inn' and occupied the whole of the site later occupied by Ryries at the E and the Haymarket Inn at the W. The Haymarket Inn was built slightly W of the corner in 1862. The building now occupied by Ryries would appear to have been rebuilt and baronialised in 1868 (the cast-iron hoppers bear this date) and some alterations were made to the Haymarket Inn at this date as well. By 1906 the two parts were linked as private and public bars of one property under the name the Haymarket Inn and the ground floor and interior rebuilt. The client for the 1906 work was Messrs Ryrie & Company, whisky merchants, presumably capitalising on the large trade provided by users of the station.

The architect for the 1906 refit, Robert McFarlane Cameron, was responsible for a number of fine pub interiors in Edinburgh, though most now have been altered. His practice was medium sized and very varied and ranged from churches and schools at one end to public houses and premises for the licensed trade at the other. He served as a bailie and magistrate of the city and was considered to be 'a firm friend of the Trade' and as such secured a number of commissions for re-fitting pubs.

There is an interesting earlier 20th century stainless steel cigarette machine in tiled recess adjoining Dalry Road (W) elevation.

List description updated as part of the Public Houses Thematic Study 2007-08.

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