Description

Stewart Henbest Capper, 1892, incorporating earlier fabric. 5-storey and attic (6 storeys to rear) 9-bay symmetrical tenement with shops to ground floor; 3 3-bay blocks with 2-storey canted oriels on sculpted corbels (emblems of Arts, Sciences and Crafts) to 2nd and 3rd floors, oversailing 4th floor and wide gabled timber dormerheads with paired windows to attic. Coursed stugged grey sandstone with polished red sandstone dressings; pink harl to oriels and 4th and attic floors; painted to ground. Continuous terracotta-balustered balcony to 1st floor. Windows in tabbed surrounds. Flat-arched pend to outer right (entrance to Wardrop's Court) flanked by painted carved timber dragon brackets. Timber panelled door with small-pane glazed fanlight to flats at centre.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: cream harl with red sandstone dressings; broad eaves. 2-bay recessed block to left: flat-arched pend with metal lintel and painted carved timber dragon brackets to left; regularly fenestrated; tripartite dormer to attic. 2-bay slightly advanced block to centre: regularly fenestrated; corbelled corner to upper left. Advanced crowstep-gabled 2-bay block to right: irregularly fenestrated; chamfered corners, corbelled below gable; concrete access balconies with metal brackets and railings to re-entrant angle; older carved panel and modern plaque (see Notes) in wall to ground floor. Recessed block to outer right: 5-storey drum stair tower to centre with finialled bell-cast slated roof and timber boarded door with wrought-iron hinges in hood- and roll-moulded red sandstone surround.

Predominantly 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Corniced rubble stacks with tall circular cans.

Statement of Interest

Petition in the name of William Wilson, student residing in University Hall, Riddle's Court, to take down Nos 455-475 Lawnmarket, and build a double tenement of shops and dwelling houses; indicates the connection with Patrick Geddes and his policy of restoration through 'conservative surgery.'. Capper's design echoes that of its timber-gabled predecessor. The carved panel incorporated in the rear wall reads BLISSIT BE THE LORD IN HIS GIFTIS. The modern metal plaque reads 'Lawnmarket Housing Action Area 1988-91. Restored with Grants from the Secretary of State for Scotland and the City of Edinburgh District Council. Edinburgh Old Town Committee for Conservation and Renewal.' Wardrop's Court, to rear, was formed by the demolition in the 1890's of 2 smaller closes, Wardrop's to the NW and Paterson's to the SE.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17811133

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)