Description

Robert Brown, 1814; built 1825 (No. 61 built 1860). Classical terrace comprising unified façade of 3-storey and basement, 3-bay townhouses with main-door and common stair flats behind; taller 5-bay corner block to W, returning 5 bays to Manor Place. Later attic additions to Nos. 55 and 61. Basement area to street including some vaulted cellars and retaining walls. Sandstone ashlar, droved to basement (vermiculated to corner block), channelled to ground floor. Entrance platts oversailing basements. Banded base course. Banded cill and string courses at 1st floor. Corniced cill course at 2nd floor (banded to corner block). Corniced eaves course. Parapet to corner block, balustraded to centre. Round arched doorway to corner block with narrow sidelights, plain fanlights. Round arched recessed surrounds to outer bays of corner block at ground floor. Architraved and corniced 1st floor windows, pedimented to centre to corner block. Similar elevation to return. Cast-iron balconies at 1st floor windows. Arched cast-iron lamp standards to Melville Street.

Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case. Mansard roof; grey slates. Corniced ashlar gable end and ridge stacks with modern clay cans. Cast-iron railings on ashlar coping stone edging basement recess.

INTERIOR: interior typified by highly decorative classical scheme with detailed cornicing, converted for later office and residential use (2008).

ARCHED LAMP HOLDERS: decorative cast-iron arches, with lamp holder to centre and original cast-iron serpent lamp extinguisher to railings. Cast-iron one and three bat balconies to 1st floor. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Statement of Interest

A-group with Melville Street, Melville Memorial and Melville Crescent (see separate listings). Melville Street is the central axis of the Walker Estate and was designed as the grandest part of the residential scheme, clearly evidenced by the centrepiece terminating Stafford Street (see separate listing). The S side of the street was completed slightly later than the N and this can be seen in more stripped back approach to the design of this part of the terrace. It is still largely unaltered and the monumental impact of the streetscape is retained, set within a wide avenue. Many original features are retained, the best of which are the serpent lamp extinguishers coiled in the railings beside the entrance to many of the houses.

Melville Street forms the centrepiece of the Walker Estate which was owned by Sir Patrick Walker and developed by him to a plan by Robert Brown. Melville Street is one of the earliest parts of the scheme to be built and provided an indication of the high class residential scheme that Walker intended to create.

Robert Brown was an experienced architect, and by the time he was involved with the deigns for the Walker Estate he had already designed several other urban schemes, including between 1810 and 1830 laying out streets in Portobello on land belonging to the Marques of Abercorn. His other notable works include Newington and St. Leonard's church (now The Queen's Hall) and the rearrangement of the interiors for Yester House on behalf of the Marques of Tweeddale. Robert Brown worked on a number of smaller projects in the New Town but the cohesive planning of the Walker estate is amongst one of the best examples of his work. He was especially competent in the design of corner pavilions and parades of shops, as can be seen in his work at North West Circus Place (see separate listing).

(List description revised 2009 as part of re-survey.)

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17575816

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 Care and Repair
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas