Description

1876. 3-storey and attic, 5-bay, symmetrical commercial and residential Scots Baronial tenement with central crowstepped gable flanked by pedimented, rose-finialled dormers. Squared and snecked rubble with roll-moulded ashlar dressings. Corbelled out at attic level with moulded eaves course above, dropping below dormers. Shops to ground with distinctive shouldered architrave mouldings to doors and windows; 2-leaf timber panelled doors. Blind windows to central bay.

12-pane timber sash and case windows at upper floors; plate glass fixed windows to shops. Scottish slate. End stacks (rebuilt in ashlar, circa 1965). Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Statement of Interest

Nos 168-172 Canongate is a good example of late 19th century commercial and residential tenement design. The Scots Baronial detailing to attic level add interest to this part of the Canongate as do the shopfronts, notable for their intact shouldered openings. The building's upper levels received some stonework repair by renowned Edinburgh conservation architect Iain Gordon Lindsay in 1965.

The historic and architectural value of Edinburgh's Canongate area as a whole cannot be overstated. Embodying a spirit of permanence while constantly evolving, its buildings reflect nearly 1000 years of political, religious and civic development in Scotland. The Canons of Holyrood Abbey were given leave by King David I to found the burgh of Canongate in 1140. Either side of the street (a volcanic ridge) was divided into long, narrow strips of land or 'tofts. By the end of the 15th century all the tofts were occupied, some subdivided into 'forelands' and 'backlands' under different ownership. Fuedal superiority over Canongate ceased after 1560. The following century was a period of wide-scale rebuilding and it was during this time that most of the areas' mansions and fine townhouses were constructed, usually towards the back of the tofts, away from the squalor of the main street. The 17th century also saw the amalgamation of the narrow plots and their redevelopment as courtyards surrounded by tenements. The burgh was formally incorporated into the City in 1856. Throughout the 19th Century the Canongate's prosperity declined as large sections of the nobility and middle classes moved out of the area in favour of the grandeur and improved facilities of Edinburgh's New Town, a short distance to the North. The Improvement Act of 1867 made efforts to address this, responding early on with large-scale slum clearance and redevelopment of entire street frontages. A further Improvement Act (1893) was in part a reaction to this 'maximum intervention', responding with a programme of relatively small-scale changes within the existing street pattern. This latter approach was more consistent with Patrick Geddes' concept of 'conservative surgery'. Geddes was a renowned intellectual who lived in the Old Town and was a pioneer of the modern conservation movement in Scotland which gathered momentum throughout the 20th century. Extensive rebuilding and infilling of sections of the Canongate's many tenements took place, most notably by city architects, E J McRae and Robert Hurd (mid 20th century) with some early frontages retained and others rebuilt in replica.

List description updated at resurvey (2007/08).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17795788

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

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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
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  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)