Description

Dunn and Findlay, 1902. 2-storey, square-plan Voysey-inspired Arts and Crafts house with single-storey swept piend-roofed service wing to NE corner, gables to S with balcony between; canted windows to E and W; deeply recessed windows; deep bracketed eaves and later greenhouse to NW. Cream-painted harling with brown sandstone coping and red sandstone doorpiece. Flat-roofed dormers to service wing. Platform skewputts to gables.

EAST (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-leaf timber panelled elliptical-arched front door in arched, chamfered, corniced architrave. 4-light canted window with battered base to left, tripartite window above. Service wing advanced to outer right with dormer to E and 2 windows below; arched entrance to S return to interior courtyard, bipartite window to left. Broad, shouldered wall-head stack to main house above service wing.

S (PRINCIPAL/GARDEN) ELEVATION: 3 bays, symmetrical. Advanced gables to outer bays; quadripartite windows at both floors. Recessed section to centre with balcony to centre; tripartite window at ground; half-glazed door with flanking windows to first floor; timber railings to balcony.

W (SIDE) ELEVATION: 5-light canted window with battered base to right; tripartite window above; tripartite windows at both floors to left.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: stepped composition, irregularly fenestrated. Gable to outer right with bipartite window at 1st-floor; timber and glass greenhouse with brick base at ground, outshot to W; original timber shelves with cast-iron legs in greenhouse. Irregularly fenestrated section to left with tall staircase window. Advanced gable to centre with modern French doors at ground and tripartite window above. Advanced service wing to outer left with dormer to attic, windows below; timber boarded back door to right return.

Predominantly timber casements with leaded lights. Harled corniced shouldered stacks. Red tiled roof with plain terracotta ridge tiles. Cast-iron down-pipes with decorative hoppers.

INTERIOR: half-glazed timber panelled door to lobby. Large inner hall through arch; timber chimneypiece with decorative cast-iron grate. Staircase through arch with fretwork balusters. Original fireplaces in study and dining room with timber chimneypieces and cast-iron grates. Original fireplaces in bedrooms, 1 with delft-tile insets. Original double sink in scullery. Game larder with slate shelf.

GARAGE: late 1930s or 1950s, harled garage with 2-leaf timber boarded doors and red tile, bell-cast piended roof.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: round-coped random rubble boundary wall; red sandstone ashlar gatepiers with pyramidal caps.

Statement of Interest

A very stylish and well-planned house built for Johnstone C Wright Esq. This house is unusual for Colinton in being very little altered. The only alterations that seem to have taken place, are the modern French doors to the kitchen (replacing a tripartite window), and the greenhouse to the rear, which was possibly intended from the start, and is shown on the 1908 OS map. The house is situated towards the North end of its plot, although there is space for a kitchen garden behind it. The principal rooms face South over the main garden, except the dining room, which looks West, to catch the evening sun. The drawing room, which would have been used mostly in the afternoon and evening, also has a West facing window, and the morning room has an East facing window. The service rooms face North, and are arranged so that they do not overlook the main part of the garden, thereby keeping it relatively private. The influence of Voysey, then at the height of his career, is very noticeable, especially in the rows of recessed leaded lights, and the battered bases of the canted bays. The arrangement of the staircase rising out of an archway was also a common device of Voysey's, and is to be found in several Colinton houses of this period, including numbers 4 and 17 Barnshot Road, both by Rowand Anderson. The firm of Dunn and Findlay was one of the more prominent architectural firms in Edinburgh during this period, and specialised in middle-class domestic housing in suburbs such as Colinton, and burghs such as North Berwick. James Bow Dunn did most of the work, and James Leslie Findlay, (son of John R Findlay, the proprietor of the Scotsman) concentrated on the social side of things. Among their more noticeable buildings are the Scotsman Offices on the South Bridge (1902), and Jenners Depository (1925). In Colinton, Dunn also built Sherwood, 28 Redford Road.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17808737

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

• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)