Description

Late 16th century with 17th century alterations (see Notes). 4-storey and deep basement, former townhouse situated on sloping ground with projecting 3-storey stair tower and ogee-headed doorway. Rubble with predominantly raised ashlar margins; irregular fenestration. Principal and rear elevations show evidence of earlier openings with segmental relieving arches. Later, 2-storey with basement, 9-bay, squared and snecked rubble addition adjoining to left with single projecting bay adjoining at far right; wide band course between 1st and 2nd floors; regular fenestration.

INTERIOR: Pricipal ground floor room to townhouse with original fluted-columned fireplace and ogee-headed niche to left. Wooden lintels to earlier window openings exposed. Extensively refurbished elsewhere.

Statement of Interest

Nos 8-18 Blackfriars Street is a rare survival of a 16th century town house. Situated on steeply sloping ground, it is internally joined to the later 9-bay building to the left. The building has been incrementally altered over time including its raising by a floor in the 17th century. The effect of these changes can be seen throughout the principal elevation with the variety of irregularly placed window openings. Built for the Regent Morton, who erected the half-moon battery at Edinburgh Castle, the building is strategically situated towards the middle of the Medieval Old-Town landscape, mid-way between the Palace and the Castle. The house formerly had projecting wooden galleries at 1st floor until the late 18th/early 19th century. The interior has been comprehensively refurbished for use as a Youth Hostel.

Formerly known as Blackfriars Wynd, the E side was demolished in 1867 under the Improvement Act, the roadway widened and subsequently renamed Blackfriars Street as part of the first wave of sanitary improvements within the Old Town. Throughout the 19th Century the Old Town's prosperity declined as large sections of the nobility and middle classes moved out of the area in favour of the grandeur and improved facilities of Edinburgh's New Town. Blackfriars Wynd was a key thoroughfare in the Old Town containing a number of grand mansion houses, now mostly demolished.

List description revised as part of Edinburgh Holyrood Ward resurvey, 2007/08.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17793438

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

• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)