Description

Archibald MacPherson, 1901-2. Substantial, 4-storey and attic, 6-bay near-symmetrical Scots-Baronial tenement block. Squared and snecked rough-faced rubble with polished dressings. String course above ground floor, stepped corbel table between 2nd and 3rd floors, over-hanging eaves. Wide, round-arched opening at left bay ground; 2-leaf timber door to centre with pilastered Rennaissance style doorpiece. Crow-stepped gables and engaged wallhead stacks to outer bays; unusual arrangement of picturesque gabled dormers to centre. Rear (W) elevation: 2 levels with canted off-centre stair turret and parapet; low flat-roofed outshot. Roofline altered at S end to accommodate lift shaft.

Variety of single, paired and bipartite, small-paned timber sash and case windows. Slate roof. End stacks. Clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: comprehensively refurbished (2001) for use as hotel and Youth Hostel.

Statement of Interest

No 50 Blackfriars Street is a good example of an early 20th century Edinburgh tenement block which adds significant streetscape interest to the gently sloping corner site. The principal elevation is of some quality with its Baronial and Rennaiassance detailing which is carefully employed throughout to achieve a distinctively Scottish design. Archibald MacPherson is more commonly known for his numerous Roman Catholic Churches and was praised during his lifetime by peers for possessing a 'never failing sense of construction and scale' and 'finely tuned sense of proportion' (Dictionary of Scottish Architects - description).

Formerly known as Blackfriars Wynd, the E side was demolished in 1867 under the Improvement Act, the roadway widened and subsequently renamed Blackfriars Street as part of the first wave of sanitary improvements within the Old Town. A report produced by city doctor, George Bell, in 1850 described the overcrowding and inhuman conditions in the Wynd prior to the improvements. He 'counted 142 individual dwellings, most of a single chamber, housing 1000 people, with no drain at all'. In earlier centuries the Wynd was a key thoroughfare in the Old Town containing a number of grand mansion houses, now mostly demolished.

List description revised as part of Edinburgh Holyrood Ward resurvey, 2007/08.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17793540

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper