Darroch Hall And Administrative Block, Carlyle Hall, Suffolk Road Halls Of Residence, 8 East Suffolk Road, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Description

A K Robertson, 1914; completed (eastern ranges) to Robertson's design by Frank Wood in 1925. Symmetrically arranged group of 5 Arts and Crafts residence blocks, sited around rectangular garden. Buchanan Conference Rooms to NW, nearest entrance gates and lodge; Carlyle and Darroch blocks to NE, joined by smaller administrative block; Playfair to SE, Balfour to SW, to NW of which are remains of tennis courts and outdoor swimming pool.

LODGE

2-storey symmetrical 3-bay L-plan house. Snecked rubble with polished ashlar dressings. Cills to ground floor windows; deep eaves; jerkin heads.

S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: plain timber door set in re-entrant angle with stepped hood; bays to SW and SE: 3-light canted windows to ground and 1st floors, separated by swept slate-hung aprons.

Grey slate roof, swept at eaves. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Rubble stacks, tapered with 2 courses of slate to caps.

BUCHANAN CONFERENCE ROOMS

3-storey symmetrical 15-bay U-plan block. Snecked rubble with polished ashlar dressings. 1st and 2nd storeys recessed; head of ground storey wall coped, balcony formed behind; 2 outer wings advanced, with giant pilasters to each edge; eaves course to 2nd storey; cornice.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: advanced central bay with 2-leaf round-arched timber and glass door; bipartite mullioned window to 1st with rosettes above each window-head; corbelled curvilinear gable with carved rose motifs and blind arrow slit. Mullioned bipartite windows to ground floor of flanking bays; single windows to 1st and single dormers to 2nd. Next 4 bays on either side comprise single windows to ground and 1st floors, with single dormers to 2nd floor. Bays in re-entrant angle of each wing have single window to left at ground and single windows and dormers respectively to right of 1st and 2nd floors. Outer wings bowed, with 3 lights to ground and to 1st floors; single dormers to 2nd floor framed by elaborate stone structures with volutes and finials which terminate in semicircular pediments.

Grey slate roof in 2 bands, the lower (forming the 2nd storey) of mansard form, swept at eaves, the upper piended. Variety of timber sash and case windows, many of which 12- or 16- pane. Regularly disposed rubble stacks tapered, with 2 courses of slate to caps, and corniced.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

CARLYLE

3-storey symmetrical 15-bay U-plan block, essentially the same as the Buchanan conference rooms, but with differences as follows.

SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: window to 1st floor of central bay corbelled out, forming small balcony to 2nd floor; curvilinear gable less elaborate and with 2 stacks immediately behind; single, as opposed to bipartite, windows to ground floor of bays flanking central bay;

2 single windows to 2nd storey of bays in re-entrant angle of outer wings; wings to outer right and left not bowed; 2nd floor dormers have curvilinear gables and no finials.

No stacks along length of roof, only (apart from 2 central stacks) wallhead stacks to outer right and left, with additional stack to rear of right.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

ADMINISTRATIVE BLOCK

2-storey symmetrical 5-bay rectangular-plan building linked to Carlyle and Darroch by recessed wings. Snecked rubble with polished ashlar dressings. Base course; dividing band course; cornice; advanced bays to outer right and left.

SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-leaf round-arched timber and glass door; single dormer to 1st floor above and to both flanking bays; single windows to flanking bays at ground; outer bays bowed with 3-light windows; broken pediment with finial to stone surround of dormer to left; semicircular pediment to stone surround of dormer to right also broken.

Roofs, stacks and windows same as other blocks, only with central section of mansard extending further down.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

DARROCH

Mirror image of Carlyle, except with finials to the framed dormers of the outer wings and with no stack to rear of right.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

PLAYFAIR

3-storey symmetrical 15-bay U-plan block, essentially the same as the Buchanan conference rooms, but with differences as follows.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: corbelled and castellated 3-light canted window to 1st floor of central bay, forming balcony to single 2nd storey window above; gabled, with skewputts; 2 single windows to 1st and 2nd storeys of bays in re-entrant angle of outer wings; ground floor of outer wings only canted; single window to 1st floor above; curvilinear pediments with no gables to 2nd floor dormers of outer wings.

Stacks symmetrically disposed, in slightly different formation to Buchanan.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

BALFOUR

3-storey symmetrical 15-bay U-plan block, essentially the same as the Buchanan conference rooms, but with differences as follows.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: central bay more advanced; mullioned bipartite window to 1st floor corbelled and canted, forming balcony to single window of 2nd storey; 2nd storey gabled, skewputts; single windows to ground floor in returns to central bay; single windows to ground floor of bays flanking central bay; 2 single windows to 2nd storey of bays in re-entrant angle of outer wings; outer wings not bowed; curvilinear pediments with no finials to framed dormers of outer wings.

Stacks symmetrically disposed, in slightly different formation to Carlyle.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

Statement of Interest

Constructed by the former Edinburgh Association for the Provision of Halls of Residence for women students (founded 1913).

External Links

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