Description

Robert Morham (adapting a design by David Cousin and John Lessels - see Notes), 1871-3. 4-storey and double-attic, Scots Baronial corner tenement forming part of a unified run on S side of High Street and E side of Blackfriars Street. Squared and snecked rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings. Chamfered, long and short window margins. Pilastered timber corner shop front. High Street elevation: 1st floor tripartite window to left; single window set in wide panel to right. 4th floor windows with raised wallhead rising to gabletted attic at left, gablet dormer head at right. Symmetrical elevation to Blackfriars Street with central 2-storey oriel to 2nd and 3rd floors. Crow-stepped gable spans two left bays with broad wallhead stack at apex. Single dormerhead to right with double gablets within roof pitch above.

Predominantly 4-pane glazing to timber sash and case windows with horns. Grey Scottish slate. Broad end stacks. Clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Statement of Interest

No 56-60 High Street is a good example of early City Improvement Act work and integrated tenement design. It occupies a prominent corner postion on the High Street and Blackfriars Street. The building is part of a planned run of buildings designed by David Cousin and John Lessels which continues West to the corner and down Blackfriars Street. The use of the Scots Baronial style fits well into the surrounding streetscape and borrows elements from 18th century tenement design in the Old Town. Robert Morham was a respected Edinburgh architect and former pupil of Cousin whose other works include the restoration of the Canongate Tolbooth.

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. The Improvement Act of 1867 made efforts to address this, responding early on with large-scale slum clearance and redevelopment of entire street frontages. Under the Improvement Act, Cousin and Lessels plans included the unified runs of St Mary Street, Blackfriars Street, Jeffrey Street and Chambers Street. The High Street is located at the heart of the Old Town and has World Heritage Site status. Historically the central focus of public, civic and commercial life within the city, the High Street contains many of Edinburgh's most distinguished buildings including St Giles Kirk and Parliament Hall (see separate listings). Its special architectural and historic interest as one of Edinburgh's primary thoroughfares is unparalleled.

Part of B-Group comprising 1-67 (Odd Nos) Blackfriars Street (see separate listings). Category changed from C(S) to B (1992). List description revised as part of Edinburgh Holyrood Ward Resurvey (2007/08).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17809217

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

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  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
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  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas