Description

John Chesser, 1870-80; some executed by Peddie & Kinnear. 3-storey with basement 2-bay terraced townhouses with 2-storey and basement canted bays and advanced 5-bay block (No 28) forming corner with 1 Lansdowne Crescent (see separate list description). Polished, channelled sandstone ashlar with polished dressings; droved at basement. Banded cill course to ground and 1st floor windows; string course and brackets to cornice. Elaborately consoled cornice to doorpieces, with cross-pattern ironwork balcony to 1st floor window above; canted cross-pattern ironwork balcony to 2nd floor window above canted bays; moulded margins, with bracketed block cills at 2nd floor.

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: Nos 16-26: 12-bay; door to centre at basement with small window to right beneath oversailing platt; window to central face of canted bay at left (some bays have additional lights); ashlar steps and entrance platt to panelled timber door with large rectangular fanlight to doorpiece to bay to right at ground of each house; single window to 1st and 2nd floors above; lights to each face of canted bay at ground and 1st floors, bay to left; tripartite window to bay to left at 2nd floor. Additional bay to right of entrance to No 26, comprising window at each floor; basement door to No 26 beneath platt, with small light to left. No 28 (corner block): advanced, 5-bay; boarded door with boarded fanlight at bay to outer left beneath entrance platt, with flanking window at right; window to 4 remaining bays at basement; panelled timber door with fanlight set in plain moulded margin at bay to outer left at ground; regular fenestration to remaining bays at ground and to upper floors.

2- and 4-pane timber sash and case glazing. Grey slate roof; coped mutual sandstone ashlar stacks (rendered stack at left of No 28), with moulded cylindrical cans, predominantly tall; cast-iron rainwater goods.

RAILINGS: fleur-de-lys railings to entrance platts and, set in coping, to street; plain railings to basement steps.

Statement of Interest

Part of New Town A-Group. John Chesser was the Superintendent of Works to George Heriot's Hospital between 1858 and 1889. During his term of office large quantities of Heriot's land were feued, including land in the W of Edinburgh. Chesser was responsible for preparing ground and elevation plans for the new buildings. Opulent interiors were designed for the houses.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17802405

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

• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair