Description

Pirie and Clyne, circa 1886. 2-storey and attic, 4-bay double villa with Egypto-Greek detailing. Rough-faced pink granite with predominantly grey granite dressings, finely finished to margins. Dark grey granite base course; ground floor cill course; pilastered panelled timber doors with letterbox fanlights; finely finished dividing band course; 1st floor cill course and band course at impost level; parapet between gables of principal elevation.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical; 4-bay, comprising 2 2-bay mirrored, semi-detached villas. Doorways to centre bays of ground floor, flanked by squat rough-faced pilasters below lintels; deep-set doors flanked by glazed panels; single gableted windows breaking parapet to 1st floor above, deep entablatures flanked by squat pilasters, blind tablet to centre, stylised sunflower paterae centred in gablets. Pair of architraved windows with keystone details to flanking bays to left and right, oversized decorative pilaster between each, supporting 3-light oriel window to centre of 1st floor above, steeply pitched piended stone roof to each. Pedimented attic floors above, grey granite finials breaking pitch and scrolled ends; bull's-eye windows to centre, stylised sunflower paterae set in gableheads, stone finial to apex; modern skylight to attic to left.

NE ELEVATION: gabled; single storey addition to outer right at ground floor.

NW ELEVATION: broad canted window to ground floor of No 90, with small leaded panes; remainder not seen 2000.

SW ELEVATION: gabled; window to centre of 1st floor; addition to left at ground floor.

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

INTERIORS: good interiors. No 90: many mouldings and doors survive; particularly fine timber fireplaces to ground floor rooms; moulded cornice with sunflower paterae to principal room of ground floor; decoratively scrolled brackets over hall. No 92: many mouldings and doors survive; fine etched glazed panes to inner door and flanking window; timber stair with distinctively turned balusters; moulded cornice with sunflower paterae to principal room of ground floor; decoratively scrolled brackets over hall.

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 86-88 and Nos 94-96 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, 82-84, 86-88, 94-96 and 98 Hamilton Place, Whitehill Bowling Green Wall and 87 Fountainhall Road (see separate listings). 90 and 92 Hamilton Place are part of J B Pirie (1851-1892) and Arthur Clyne's (1853-1924) finest terrace. The majority of Pirie and Clyne's houses on Hamilton Place follow the same formula: symmetrical double villas of mirrored plan, 2 gables 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. Nos 90 and 92 Hamilton Place is a variation on Nos 78-80 and 82-82 Hamilton Place. The bull's-eye openings in the gables tie 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 doorway flanked by squat pilasters are typical of Pirie and Clyne's domestic designs, seen specifically at Argyll Crescent and Argyll Place (see separate listings). Similarly squat columns are used by Alexander Thomson at the side entrance to St. Vincent Street Church, Glasgow, of 1857-8 (see separate listing). 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 Q17576561

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

• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)