Description

Later 18th century. Tenement on steeply sloping corner site with external circular stair tower to E; 3-storey basement and attic, 4 bays to N elevation, 3 bays to E elevation. Predominantly rubble (stair tower partially harled; some brick and harl to E elevation) with polished and stugged ashlar margins. Long and short quoins. Regular fenestration.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 2-leaf timber-panelled and glazed basement door at far right, brick relieving arch above lintel. To left, stone steps up to timber panelled door in recessed opening to ground floor, flanked by 1 window to left, 2 to right. To far left, chamfered corner; stop-chamfer between ground and 1st floor. Dormers to outer left and right bays.

E ELEVATION: stair tower at centre with external steps leading to N facing doorway to ground floor.

GLAZING etc: plate glass in timber sash and case windows. Flat-roofed dormers with lead haffits. Mansard roof (see Notes); grey slate. Gablehead stack to E elevation.

INTERIOR: only ground floor and tower seen, 2002. Ground floor now open plan; recessed cooking range remains (E. wall). Tower; spiral stair rising from ground to 3rd floor level.

Statement of Interest

A-Group with Nos 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26 Calton Hill and Rock House, Calton Hill.

This former tenement has now been incorporated into the hotel which also occupies Nos 15 and 3,5 and 7 Calton Hill. The ground floor is now a restaurant, and the floors above hotel accommodation. It is of particular interest due to its unusual external circular stair tower and as one of the last remaining buildings of the old Calton or Caldtoun Village, which formed the heart of the Barony of Calton. It was owned for a long time by the Prison Commissioners and was used to house prison warders from the nearby Calton Gaol (now demolished). The attic storey accommodation is provided by the mansard roof which was a later addition.

Before the development of Waterloo Place and the Regent Bridge, Calton was a community quite remote (both in social and infrastructure terms) from the City of Edinburgh proper. The village was part of the parish of South Leith, and members of the community travelled to Leith to worship. It was however considered unsatisfactory to bury the dead of Calton at Leith, and so the Incorporated Trades of Calton (est. 1631) bought and maintained a burying-ground for the use of the Barony. The building of the Regent Bridge and the Waterloo Place development (under the Act of 54 George III cap. 170, 1814) required the intersection of this burying-ground (now known as the Old Calton Burying Ground), and also resulted in the demolition of many of the old houses of Calton Burgh.

Before the construction of Regent Bridge formed a new direct route to Calton Hill from the New Town, the only means of access to the original burying ground and Calton Hill itself was via the "steep, narrow, stinking spiral street" (Cockburn) that is now known as Calton Hill (formerly High Calton). In the 1970s, the remaining old village houses on the lower portion of the north side of Calton Hill were demolished. The street is cobbled, and on the south side retains a wide iron gutter into which a wedge attached to carts and carriages could be fitted, in order to assist braking on the steep and dangerous descent.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17794232

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)