Description

Late 19th century single storey and attic row of two mews houses, comprising former stables tack and carriage houses with tall gabletted dormers to mansard roof. Squared snecked red sandstone bull faced rubble; red sandstone ashlar dressings. Set on ground falling steeply to Water of Leith at rear (northeast). Asymmetrical arrangement of ground floor openings; offcentre doorways with small glazed fanlights; large boarded and glazed coach-house doors; some glazed openings with long and short rybats. Wider three-bay elevation to No.13 with two large cart-shed doors at ground floor. Alterations, around 1934-36, to form commercial garage at ground floor with small multi-pane glazing to outer left bay and with painted signage to lintels reading 'MORRIS CARS - IAN F. CUNNINGHAM - BENTLEY SPECIALIST'.

Rear: coursed random rubble with some ashlar dressings; some later enlarged openings. Irregular fenestration. Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case, with some eight-pane and four-pane in timber sash and case windows; multipane window to ground floor of No. 13 with hopper top openings. Mansard roof with deep ashlar skews and decorative clay ridge; grey slates. Corniced gable and ridge stacks; modern clay cans. Cast iron rainwater goods.

Interior: converted to residential dwellings with garage to ground floor of No.13 (2008).

Statement of Interest

A picturesque row of mews houses still largely in its original form as a small terrace and with characteristic features such as steep mansard roofs and coach-house doors relatively unaltered by later additions. The buildings were designed as stables as well as providing storage for carriages and tack.

The 1893-94 Ordnance Survey map also indicates that there was a smithy on the site which may have provided shoes and tack for the horses, although no evidence of this could be seen (2008). The large cart-shed openings along the west elevation were to allow access for larger carriages. From 1934 to 2001 the ground floor of No.13 was the garage and workshop of early Bently and Rolls Royce specialist in Scotland, Ian F Cunningham and his son.

The building faces further mews to Sunbury Street (see separate listing) across a partly enclosed cobbled courtyard making a valuable piece of streetscape. This area of the Dean Village was characterised by small scale industry and secondary services, and mews buildings provided both working and dwelling accommodation for a variety of artisans.

Minor updates to Description and Statement of Special Interest Section in 2018.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77781306

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)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)