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Edinburgh, 8 Queen Street

House (18th Century)

Site Name Edinburgh, 8 Queen Street

Classification House (18th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Baron Ord's House; Royal College Of Physicians; Baron Orde's House

Canmore ID 52435

Site Number NT27SE 389

NGR NT 25401 74205

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52435

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

Architect: Robert Adam (Fine facade, plasterwork - fireplaces 1771)

Reference

Information from Helen Smailes, Scottish National Portrait Gallery:

A Catalogue of Drawings, Sketches and a Few Prints, The Property of the late Mr David Allan, History Painter Edinburgh

Edinburgh 1798

p6 86 The Five original designs of ceilings, for the late Lord Chief Baron Ord's house in Queen Street, Edinburgh, by the late Robert Adam, Esq. in colours

(Copy in Natioanl Library of Scotland)

[Could Allan have painted cherubs on ceilings?]

Originally designed by Adam as the town house of Lord Chief Baron Orde. First Edinburgh house with two drawing rooms. Bought by the Royal College of Physicians in 1868. First phase of a restoration programme carried out by Simpson & Brown with advice from Ian Gow, 1992; completed 1994.

RIAS 1992; Prospect 1994

Activities

Publication Account (1951)

8 QUEEN STREET.

This house was designed by Robert Adam in 1770-71 for Lord Chief Baron Ord. The original plans, which still survive in the Soane Museum, London, are of special interest since they illustrate an arrangement translated from the suburbs to the town, of which a glimpse may be obtained in early descriptions of certain properties in George Square and St. Andrew Square and which is clearly seen at Duddingston House (No. 192).[n such an arrangement the kitchen quarters and the stabling stand detached from the habitable accommodation. Baron Ord's house (Fig. 362) faced Queen Street on the N., looked out on a small garden to the S., and had an open area back and front, while on its E. and W. sides adjoining houses abutted. Each area gave access to a vaulted cellarage, in one case situated below the garden and in the other below the pavement of Queen Street." At the back of the garden stood the -kitchen quarters, separated by a narrow drying-green from N.E. Thistle Street Lane. Directly opposite, on the S. side of the lane, lay the stabling, grouped round an open yard and extending as far S. as Thistle Street. The kitchen quarters and the stabling have both been replaced by other buildings, but Ainslie's map of 1780shows that Adam's plan was substantially carried out. There is one major difference, however, between his plan and the buildings constructed from it, namely that the arrangement of the house has been reversed, the rooms designed for the W. side having been placed on the E., and vice versa.

The house consists of three main storeys with a basement and an attic, the latter evidently modernised as the present curb roof is not original. The back and sides of the building are constructed of rubble while the front is of ashlar, droved on the basement floor, channel-jointed at street level, and polished in the upper part. The street floor is further defined by a band enriched with a guilloche and surmounted by a belt and blocking course. At this level there is a central pillared doorway with sidelights; the frieze of the entablature is enriched with flutes and rosettes. On either side of the doorway are two windows. The two storeys immediately above are lit by tiers of five windows, those of the first floor rising from a continuous moulded sill-course and having moulded architraves, plain friezes and moulded cornices, while those of the second have moulded architraves only. Above the latter a blocked and dentilated cornice returns across the front and supports a blocking-course, within which rise five small, modern dormers supplemented by roof lights higher up in the roof.

On the three main floors the accommodation is arranged in suites of intercommunicating rooms, an Italianate type of plan which did not entirely die out in Edinburgh until well into the 19th century. The rooms are large and lofty, and are adequately lit as all, with one exception on each floor, have at least two windows. The entrance from the street opens into a spacious vestibule with an enriched ceiling. On the W. is a fine mantlepiece of white statuary marble (Fig. 43), said to have been designed by Adam for another apartment but transferred to its present position some years later. At the inner end of the vestibule are three doorways with door heads supported by scrolled consoles and enriched with fluting, dentils and pearls. These lead respectively to the dining-room on the E., to the study on the W., and to the main staircase on the S., the S. doorway representing a departure from Adam's plan, which shows an open arcade in this position. The dining-room-the "eating room" of the plan-is situated at the N.E. corner of the house and its S. end is circled. Originally it had an enriched ceiling; this has been removed but the frieze, ornamented with garlands and human masks, and the delicate, dentilated cornice both remain. On the E. is a monumental fireplace of green marble. The doorways all have door heads, enriched with pearls, fluting and dentils. Adam’s plan shows four doorways, but one of them, situated at the centre of the circled end, no longer exists and in its place a press at the S.E. corner has been opened out in order to give direct access to the parlour situated at the S.E. corner of the house. The study occupies the N.W. corner; this also had an enriched ceiling, but the garlanded frieze and the enriched cornice are again the only original plaster details left. On the W. is a good mantelpiece of white statuary marble. There is a deep press at the S.W. corner. The main staircase, which extends from the street floor to the attic and is lit from a square cupola in the roof, contains a spacious scale-and-platt stair with plain cast-iron balusters and a neatly moulded handrail of mahogany. On the W. it gives access to a geometrical service stair, on the E. to a parlour and on the S. to a dressing-room. The latter opens in turn into a bedroom, which can also be reached from the service-staircase. The parlour has a cornice enriched with egg-and-dart ornament and, on the E., a mantelpiece with a marble slip enclosed by a carved wooden moulding. The dressing-room has a semi-octagonal bay projecting to the S. On the N., in a partition behind the main stair, is a plain mantelpiece of white marble. The cornice is moulded. The bedroom, which has become a cloakroom, has a fireplace on the . W. with plain stone jambs. The cornice is enriched with egg-and dart ornament. At the S.W. corner is a deep press.

The basement, which is reached from the service stair, has been partly remodelled but the original arrangement of four habitable rooms and store-rooms is still evident. The room at the S.E. corner is said to contain a large built-up fireplace, and if this is correct this room was probably made into the kitchen when the external kitchen was demolished. Below the vestibule lies a vaulted cellar now put to use as a heating-chamber, which may in fact have been its original purpose.

On the first floor there are two drawing-rooms at the front of the house, respectively a cube and a double cube in shape, the eastern one being the larger. This principal drawing-room has a fine enriched ceiling (Fig. 369) on which griffins, urns and scrolls are prominently displayed. The enrichment f the cornice is most refined. The doorways, three in number, have elaborately enriched architraves, garlanded friezes and enriched cornices. On the E. is a monumental mantelpiece of white statuary marble. The lesser drawing-room has an equally good enriched ceiling in which are inset four allegorical oil paintings, probably additions to the original design. The doorways are similar to those of the neighbouring room, and the cornice is as fine although not identical. On the W. is a monumental mantelpiece of white statuary marble. The principal bedroom lies at the S.E. corner of the house. It has a plain ceiling and the finishings, although generally similar to those of the drawingrooms, are simpler in character. The adjoining dressing-room and a smaller bedroom at the S.W. corner have plain marble mantelpieces and simply enriched cornices. On the second floor the whole front of the house is occupied by a single room having a fireplace with plain stone jambs at each end and a simply-moulded cornice. In the original plan, however, there may have been a square bedroom at either corner separated by a dressing-room, as this is the arrangement on the S. side of the house. These S. rooms have moulded cornices and fireplaces with plain stone jambs. As the attic floor stands to-day there is one room occupying the whole E. side of the house, evidently two rooms thrown into one since there are two fireplaces with plain stone jambs in the E. wall. The cornice and wooden lining of this room -are modern. A second room occupies the remainder of the front of the house; this also has a fireplace with plain stone jambs, and the lining and cornice are both modern. A third room at the S.W. corner has become a cloakroom. On the S. of the main staircase there is a garret room formed within the roof of the bay which projects towards the S.

CARVED STONE.

On the N. wall of the building that replaced the old kitchen may be seen a plaque carved with a garland enclosing the emblems of Apollo and Aesculapius. A tablet below records that it was removed "FROM OLD COLLEGE HALL / GEORGE ST / 1776." This hall, designed by Craig, stood on the site now occupied by the head office of the Commercial Bank of Scotland.

RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941

References

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