Description

Alexander Esme Gordon, 1966. Single and 2-storey, roughly L-plan, Functionalist house; double garage linked to NW; partially enclosed paved courtyard with pond to W; wall with circular opening to SW. Cavity wall construction with cement render incorporating white marble and limestone; pink cement rendered basecourse, simulated snecked stonework. Windows to public rooms set in slate frames. Projecting, concave, bullfaced sandstone entrance screen to N with 2-leaf panelled doors in slate recess.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-storey, entrance and bedroom wing with projecting porch off-centre left. Double garage linked to far right.

S (GARDEN) ELEVATION: circular opening to wall extended beyond main building line to far left.

W (COURTYARD) ELEVATION: large square windows framed in slate. Porch with pink cement rendered imitation stonework to SW, square plan concrete pier connecting to garage. Square plan plinth in advance of column.

INTERIOR: original plan mostly intact. Wide stair off main entrance with continuous wooden handrail; top lit recess to S end of hall. Original Formica kitchen units. Sideboard recess with Hessian backing and wood canopy to dining room. Polished cream coloured concrete fireplace. Built-in hardwood shelving below living room windows; Figured wood built-in wardrobes to master bedroom. Some original stainless steel door furniture. Bespoke bathroom basin units comprising angled counter and recessed mirror. Some original light fittings.

Predominantly large rectangular and square windows with top hoppers (hoppers in original steel, most lower sections replaced with uPVC). Shallow pitched roofs with folded aluminium sheet cladding. Advanced, large rendered and coped chimney stack to W elevation.

GARAGE, PILLAR, ENTRANCE GATES AND RAILINGS: single storey, rendered double garage. Wrought iron and mild steel, 2-leaf gates (originally from 11 Greenhill Park). Fluted Ionic column to turning space.

Statement of Interest

Built by the Edinburgh architect for his own use, as 'a functional domestic environment, relying on works of art and the garden for decoration and contemplation'. One of the few remaining works of Alexander Esme Gordon RSA RIBA FRIAS (1910-1993) and one only two houses built by the architect, whose work was mainly ecclesiastical and commercial buildings - for example the Electricity Board Show Rooms in George Street, Edinburgh (now demolished). Interpenetration of interior and exterior spaces is a key feature. The Japanese-influenced garden was landscaped and planted with the advice of Dr Harold Fletcher, then Director of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens.

A major example of a relatively unaltered, late Modernist private dwelling, and a major example of its building type as most listed buildings of this period are represented by works designed on a larger scale, such as public, commercial or multiple occupancy buildings.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17802828

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)