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Edinburgh, 24 St Andrew Square

House (18th Century), Office(S) (20th Century)

Site Name Edinburgh, 24 St Andrew Square

Classification House (18th Century), Office(S) (20th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Company

Canmore ID 52419

Site Number NT27SE 374

NGR NT 25564 74205

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52419

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Edinburgh, City Of
  • Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District City Of Edinburgh
  • Former County Midlothian

Architecture Notes

REFERENCE

Dick Peddie & MacKay, Edinburgh

Proposed redevelopment for Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Co.

Drawing in Plan Chest - Drawer 1&2

Plans - Dick Peddie & McKay - 1970

Attic 2, Bin 33, Bag 3

Plans: Alterations - 13 Young Street 1915

Activities

Publication Account (1951)

No. 127. St. Andrew Square, Northern Group.

In contrast to the three buildings just described, their neighbours on the N. side of the Square lack unity. Number 21, the easternmost building on this side, contained a main door house on the street and basement floors, as well as two flats above and a third to the E. above the maindoor house numbered 22, all three flats entering from a common stair. Both Numbers 21 and 22 were erected by John Young, wright, about 1775, although he did not obtain his feu-charter until 1778, the year in which Henry Brougham, who was to become Lord Chancellor in 1830, was born in the upper E. flat. The corresponding W. flat became, in 1780, the birthplace of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, whose "onlie begetter," David Stewart Erskine, eleventh Earl of Buchan, had owned and occupied the flat since 1778, having as his neighbours, besides the Broughams, Archibald Hope, secretary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Mrs. Ann Forbes.

The side of Number 21 facing N. St. Andrew Street is built of droved ashlar, while the front facing the Square is of polished ashlar up to the street floor and of rubble above. Kirkwood's engraving of 1819 indicates, however, that the polished ashlar, the projecting Doric porch through which the street floor is now entered, and the moulded entablature defining the street floor are all subsequent additions. When the engraving was made a pedimented doorway at the S.E. corner of the front was a common entrance to house and flats, and in the position of the existing porch there was a window. Most of the existing windows have moulded architraves but the remainder are plain. To-day the S. part of the street floor and the whole of the basement are occupied by an insurance company, and its office, which is entered through the porch, was reconstructed many years ago and now contains nothing of architectural interest. The single flat on the first floor and the double flat above it, entered from a common stair at the S.E. corner, now communicate directly with each other by means of an internal stair. Each flat contains six rooms, none of special interest although some of the original fireplaces, of marble or of pine with stucco enrichment, remain in position. The double flat to the E., now in direct communication with the main door house Number 22, has four rooms and a kitchen on the lower floor and several small bedrooms in the attic. The drawing room, situated at the S.E. corner, is the principal apartment. Its walls have dado panelling and an enriched cornice. The mantelpiece is of pine with stucco enrichment enclosing a marble slip.

The front of Number 22 is of rubble rendered in cement. The porch at the S.W. corner is modern but the entrance is original and is flanked by a single window to the W. and by three to the E. On each of the upper floors there is a tier of four windows with moulded margins. The main door house consisted of the three lower storeys, on each of which a transverse partition divided the building in two. In the N. division were three compartments, the one in the middle devoted to the staircase, while there were two compartments in the S. division. There has been so much internal alteration that nothing of special interest remains in this houseapartfrom the drawing-room mantelpiece, which is of white marble and is similar to some at Number 6 Charlotte Square.

According to Chambers (7), the adjoining houses (Numbers 23 to 26) were built "in 1772 by the joint purses of Sir John Whitefoord, Sir Robert Murray and Gilbert Meason," and of the four Numbers 24 and 26 survive. In 1775 Janet, Agnes and Ann Keith were granted a feu-charter of Number 24. This was a self-contained house of basement, three upper floors and an attic, and is now occupied as offices. The front is of rubble rendered in cement, the dressings being exposed, and is sufficiently wide to accommodate five voids on each floor. The entrance lies within a shallow Doric porch at the S.E. corner. The windows have moulded architraves. On plan the house is divided from N. to S. by a partition. The W. division contained two compartments and the E. one three, of which the one in the middle is the staircase. The plan is therefore very similar to that of Number 22 if turned through a quarter of a circle, the staircase here being in the body of the house and indirectly lit.

Except that the porch is central and that some of the windows have friezes and cornices, the front of Number 26 is very similar in character to that of Number 24. The rendering coat has, however, been removed and the rubble left exposed. Decoration and sanitary provision apart, there has been little internal alteration since 1851-2, the year in which an insurance company took over the property. It was presumably this company which formed the series of strong rooms at the N.E. corner of the building. The plan is oblong, with the staircase situated in the middle of the E. side and lit from a cupola light. The street and first floors each contain six apartments, the second and attic floors have-five, and the basement now accommodates storerooms and lavatories. The principal rooms are well-finished, for the most part in pine, but some of the-woodwork is in mahogany while a veneer of bird's-eye maple is seen in the old drawing-room. This drawingroom and the N.W. room on the floor below both have enriched ceilings. The mantelpieces in the principal rooms are of marble.

RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941

(7) The Traditions of Edinburgh (1825), i, p. 68.

Photographic Survey (October 1965)

Photographic survey by the Scottish National Buildings Record/Ministry of Work in October 1965.

References

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