Description

Circa 1840. 2-storey, cruciform-plan cottage with central advanced gables to N and S, porch with pointed-arch doorway to N, deep blocked eaves, and corniced octagonal stacks. Snecked sandstone rubble with ashlar to porch and window dressings. Base course. Long and short undressed quoins. Raised, chamfered window margins; stone canopies to first floor windows under gables; hoodmoulds to ground floor gable windows. Irregularly fenestrated.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: advanced central gabled porch; later 2-leaf timber boarded door in stop-chamfered pointed-arch opening; stone-mullioned bipartite window above with small canopy. Narrow windows at ground flanking porch.

S (GARDEN) ELEVATION: tripartite mullioned window at ground to centre; bipartite mullioned window above; canopied window at ground to right of gable; bipartite window above; non-traditional timber boarded back door to outer right.

E AND W (SIDE) ELEVATIONS: tripartite window at ground to E; bipartite window above; modern sliding door to W; canopied window above.

Non-traditional uPVC windows. Corniced octagonal stacks rising from square bases. Large graded grey slates

INTERIOR: not seen 2003, but the Facilities Manager said that all the original doors and fireplaces had been removed.

BOUNDARY WALL: coped, snecked rubble boundary wall to E.

Statement of Interest

A-Group with Inverleith House, 1858 Palm House and 1834 Palm Stove, Linnaeus Monument, 1967 Greenhouse, Caledonian Hall, East and West Gates, and the Laboratory and Lecture Hall Buildings at 20a Inverleith Row. The Royal Botanic Garden is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes In Scotland, Site Number 216. Despite the plastic windows and messy re-pointing this is a delightful picturesque cottage, and occupies a prominent position behind the East Gate. When this cottage was built this part of the garden belonged to the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, which was quite separate from the Royal Botanic Garden. At that time the Botanic garden occupied only the NE corner of its present site, and the West half of the garden belonged to Inverleith House. It is unknown what this house was originally used for, but it is likely that it has always been a gardener's house. The style is similar to that of the Caledonian Hall, which was designed by David Cousin, and it is likely that this house was also by him.

The East Gate is listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779158

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)