Description

Earlier - mid 19th century. 2-storey symmetrical 3-bay rectangular- plan classical villa. Polished ashlar; coursed rubble sides. Base course; dividing band course; corniced cill course; cornice; stone balustraded parapet; architraved windows.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: fluted Doric columns in front of pilasters support doorcase, cornice of which is formed by a continuation of the cill course; 4-panel timber door with plate glass fanlight; single window above and to both floors of flanking bays; cill course advanced and supported by consoles above ground floor windows. Recessed corniced wings to N and S; S wing containing 2-leaf garage door with

4 glass panes above.

Shallow piended roof. Shouldered and coped wallhead stacks. 12-pane lying-pane sash and case windows.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

BOUNDARY WALLS: low coped boundary wall to street with large gatepiers at either end; high coped rubble mutual boundary walls to N and S.

Statement of Interest

Dr Benjamin Bell of Hunthill, an eminent Edinburgh surgeon and farmer, speculated on the potential for development in the lands of Newington. In 1806, aware of the demand for countrified dwellings near the city, he advertised his intention to sell 58 plots of land within his 8.5 acres. On his death in the same year his son George Bell, also a surgeon, inherited the land and, in 1825, commissioned James Gillespie Graham to design a plan for new streets within the grounds of Newington House, bounded by the back garden walls of Minto Street, Salisbury Road, East Mayfield and Dalkeith Road. Feus were offered for sale and Blacket Place began to take shape, the houses possibly being built speculatively by one builder or building company. Security was an important feature of the development, with Gothic gates, the octagonal piers of which survive, locked at night and single storey lodges at the entrances from Minto Street and Dalkeith Road.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17793099

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

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy