Description

Late 18th century. Classical, near-symmetrical double tenement with slightly advanced shopfronts to ground floor; 4-storey and attic, 9-bay elevation to Antigua Street; 5-storey, 2-bay side elevation to Gayfield Square. Droved ashlar (painted to ground floor; coursed rubble with droved margins to side and rear elevations). Mutuled eaves cornice. Predominantly regular fenestration.

E (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: timber panelled door with 6-pane letterbox fanlight in plain opening to centre (stair) bay; to left, timber shopfront with door way to far left; to right, pair of stone-built shopfronts (partially altered) with shared cornice and parapet. 2 semi-curved dormers to roof to left; single pedimented dormer to roof to centre right.

N (GAYFIELD SQUARE) ELEVATION: droved long and short quoins; droved ashlar chamfered corner to right. Timber panelled door to centre bay, with low barred openings to right and far left; oculus windows to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor to left bay; window to 1st and 5th floor to right.

W (REAR) ELEVATION: 8-bay elevation; nepus gable to left. Single-storey warehouse attached to ground floor.

GLAZING etc: predominantly 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows; modern plate glass glazing to ground floor; 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows to 5th floor to N elevation. Grey slate haffits and semi-conical roofs to curved dormers; timber fascia and grey slate haffits and pitched roof to pedimented dormer. 3 rooflights to front elevation. Pitched roof; graded grey slates; stone skews. Corniced, droved ashlar ridge stack to far left; 2 corniced droved stacks to rear pitch, to centre; 1 corniced droved gablehead stack to N gable; 1 corniced rubble gablehead stack to nepus gable to rear; circular cans to all stacks.

Statement of Interest

This classically detailed tenement block is a good example of late 18th century high quality tenement design in Edinburgh. It also has streetscape and historical value as an element of the Gayfield estate development.

Antigua Street forms part of the Gayfield Estate, so called because it stands on the former grounds of Gayfield House (East London Street; 1763-5, still extant; separately listed Category A). These lands were feued by the solicitor James Jollie from 1785. Building began on either side of the drive to the house; the building line on the SW of Gayfield Square follows the line of the drive. These developments began to establish the form of Gayfield Square, which forms the heart of the estate. The gardens at the core of the square were preserved from development as early as the 1790s; Sasines record that '..the area of Gayfield Place [is] to remain an open space for all time coming.'

11-14 Antigua Street is possibly the first extant building to have been constructed on the newly feued Gayfield estate. Although no exact date can be established for its construction, Sasines record the sale of 'part of a tenement in Antigua Street' as early as 1784 and Post Office Directories show that the building was well inhabited by 1793.

In 2000-2001, 11-14 Antigua Street was awarded a grant from Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, enabling the building to undergo a comprehensive scheme of repairs.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17792438

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)