Description

Robert Wilson and John Alexander Carfrae, 1901. Large symmetrical 3-storey double pile gabled Edinburgh School Board primary school, with typically inventive Renaissance detailing. Squared and snecked cream sandstone with ashlar dressings. Octagonal Renaissance timber cupola bellcote at centre.

NE (ASHLEY TERRACE) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical 3-storey 17-bay facade, on ground falling slightly to N. Central 11 bays with ashlar base course rising to ground floor cills; moulded cill course to 1st floor and string course above. Middle 5 bays identical, divided by astylar pilasters; Ground floor windows tall, bipartite; 1st floor windows rounded-headed keystoned bipartites; small 2nd floor windows with Gibbsian surrounds. Flanking 3 bays advanced with pedimented gableheads with oculi; tall single windows to each bay at ground and 1st floor; at 2nd floor tripartite windows arcaded with Ionic columns and flanked by Ionic pilasters. Beyond these to N and S recessed 2-bay link to single bay gabled end pavilions, gables flanked by large stone finials. Links advanced at ground with entrances in outer bays. 2-leaf door with round-headed panels and rectangular 8-pane fanlight; ashlar door surround with 3/4 engaged Ionic columns supporting open pediment with 'education' plaque in roundel (boyd to N with forestairs and wrought iron railings, girls to S); solid parapet above with balustrade to inner bay. Tripartite windows to inner bay (single at ground to N); single windows to outer bay. Cill course to 2nd floor. Pavilions with tripartite windows to each floor, corniced at 2nd floor.

SE ELEVATION: central, slightly advanced 2-bay gabled section with bipartite windows to each floor; modern falt-roofed single storey building attached at ground masking left bay. Wall to right blank with wallhead stack abutting gable. Wall to left with single windows at 1st and 2nd floor close to gable; 2nd floor window breaking eaves with round-headed pedimented dormerhead.

SW (ASHLEY GROVE); plain 3-storey 21-bay symmetrical facade; single windows to each bay of each floor; moulded string course above 1st floor. Central section of 5 bays; 2nd and 4th bays dormerheaded with bowed cornice; wallhead stack to right of centre. Flanked by slightly advanced 3-bay gabled sections; 2nd floor taller, blind oculus in gable, finials as before. Flanked in turn by 3 recessed bays with central bay dormerheaded as above. Gables to N and S. Outer 4 bays lower, gabled with finials at outer corners; ground and 1st floor windows bipartite (basement to N with single window). At N single storey flat-roofed addition. NW ELEVATION: 3 bays grouped to centre. 2 at centre with bipartite windows and gable; bay to right with single windows, 2nd floor window breaking eaves with round-headed dormerehead. Wallhead stack to far left. Modern addition at ground masks 2 right hand bays. Multi-pane timber sash and case glazing throughout. Essentially M-pitch roof, but many subsidiary gables. Massive skylights to art rooms in attic. Green slates. Stacks as above, with plain ashlar copes. Ashlar skews, all beaking to flat skewputts; some terminated with finials or dwarf, pyramidal capped piers. Cast-iron rainwater goods, gutter to centre of entrance front cast with thistles.

CARETAKERS LODGE: 2-storey slightly asymmetrical gabled lodge. Materials en suite with school.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 3-bay, door with 3-pane letterbox fanlight at centre, open pediment above; small bipartite window under moulded eaves. At ground single window to right, narrow bathroom window to left.

N ELEVATION: gabled. Bipartite window to each floor, semicircular hoodmould in gable above 1st floor window.

NW ELEVATION: blank; broad wallhead stack at centre.

SW ELEVATION: gabled. At ground, window to left and narrow window to right; single window at centre above. Glazing, skews and slates as above. PLAYSHED: to N of school, adjacent to Caretaker's lodge. Stone wall to N, built up from boundary wall; S and W sides open, roof supported by cast-iron columns; E end enclosed, lit by skylights. Piended slate roof. GATES; GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: 4 sets of gates; square piers on plinth, with fielded round-headed panels and dentilled cornice; those to SW with cornice missing.Decorative wrought-iron gates. Dwarf boundary wall with ashlar coping, simple iron railings.

Statement of Interest

Compare with the 'spirited Renaissance' of Flora Stevenson Primary School, Comely Bank, also by Carfrae and Wilson, 1899-1900.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17804803

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5