Description

Pirie and Clyne, circa 1886. 2-storey and attic, 4-bay double villa with Egypto-Greek detailing. Rough-faced grey granite with finely finished to margins. Dark grey granite base course; ground floor cill course; pilastered panelled timber doors with letterbox fanlights; parapet between pediments of principal elevation.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical; 4-bay, comprising 2 2-bay mirrored, semi-detached villas. Round-arched doorways to centre bays of ground floor, scrolled horseshoe surrounds with keystone details surmounted by stylised anthemion motifs, pair of modern doors to right (Nos 82 and 82A), single door to No 84, flanked by glazed panels; single windows to 1st floor above, deep entablatures breaking parapet above, on squat pilasters, pair of navel paterae to centre of each, stylised anthemion motifs to centre. Pair of windows with bowed architraves to flanking bays to left and right, oversized decorative pilaster between each, supporting 3-light oriel window to centre of 1st floor above with stylised Ionic capitals to pilastered mullions, steeply pitched piended stone roof to each. Pedimented attic floor flanked by 2 deep scrolls, tripartite window to each, stone roundel to centre pane enclosing shell motif, acroteria to pediment above, anthemion to apex; wallhead stack flanking pediments to inside.

NE ELEVATION: gabled.

NW ELEVATION: not seen 2000.

SW ELEVATION: gabled; addition to left of ground floor.

Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows. Corniced gablehead and wallhead stacks with circular cans. Grey slate roof with lead ridge. Stone skews. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIORS: No 82: ground floor; mouldings survive, Voysey influenced fireplace, possibly not original; No 82A not seen 2000. No 84: bull's-eye window flanking inner doorway, moulded surround with sunflower paterae; distinctively turned balusters to staircase through ground, 1st and attic floors; some mouldings and doors survive, elongated colonnettes at angles of canted windows.

GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: low rough-faced pink granite Aberdeen bond walls to S with grey granite snecking and coping; gatepiers to left and right, shared with Nos 78-80 and Nos 86-88 Hamilton Place (see separate listings), grey granite shaft swept up from plinth, rough-faced pink granite neck surmounted by scrolled cap, rubble dividing walls to E and W.

Statement of Interest

A-Group with 63, 79, 62, 64-66, 68-70, 72, 74-76, 78-80, 86-88, 90-92, 94-96 and 98 Hamilton Place, Whitehill Bowling Green Wall and 87 Fountainhall Road (see separate listings). 82 and 84 Hamilton Place is part of J B Pirie (1851-1892) and Arthur Clyne's (1853-1924) finest terrace. It was built primarily for John Morgan (b. 1841), an Aberdeen builder who specialised in high quality granite cutting and carving. Morgan was a close friend of Pirie, and was involved in much of the work undertaken by the partnership. The majority of Pirie and Clyne's houses on Hamilton Place follow the same formula: symmetrical double villas of mirrored plan, 2 gables or pediments to the attic, with a parapet running between. Although the houses follow the same composition, each pair is slightly different from the next, unified by the massing, masonry techniques and variations of the same decorative motifs. From the plans it would appear that the houses were designed in outline first, then details were added later. 82 and 84 Hamilton Place is a more elaborate version of 78-80 Hamilton Place. Pirie and his family lived in No 84, which might explain the profusion of ornament. The highly decorative exterior suggests that No 84 might have had an elaborate interior, but if it did, little survives. The bull's-eye opening to the right of the inner door ties in with the nautical wave-like motifs frequently used in Pirie's architecture, and may be suggestive of a port-hole (Pirie's father was a sea-captain). The scrolled horseshoe doorways can be seen elsewhere on Hamilton Place. The use of the 1st floor oriel windows supported on an oversized pilaster, as well as being found at Nos 78-80 and 90-92 Hamilton Place, can be seen at its best at 50 Queen's Road (see separate listing), Pirie's masterpiece. Pirie and Clyne's designs are highly individual. Their buildings combine High Victorian gothic, Greek, Scots Baronial, Aesthetic Movement and even proto-Art Nouveau motifs.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17576552

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.

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