Description

17th century (partially reconstructed, 1956-7 by Gordon and Dey - see Notes). 2-storey, attic and garrett, 5-bay symmetrical tenement with central round-arched pend. Harled rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings. Raised margins. Exposed rubble base-course. Pedimented and finialled gablets break eaves at 2nd floor, smaller dormers set within pitch of roof above. Turnpike stair tower to rear with further 3-storey wing to left of Playhouse Close.

INTERIOR: Extensively modernised (1968) to provide accommodation and facilities for Moray House Institute of Education including classrooms, staff studies and proscenium theatre.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows. Scottish slate. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Statement of Interest

A 17th century tenement block of traditional character, No 194-198 is notable for its regular composition and restrained detailing. This area of the Canongate has a strong lineage of tenement buildings that have been sensitively modified over time to create a particularly rich and varied streetscape. No 194-198 is a good example of this. The building is currently called the Simon Lawrie building and it is linked internally in 1956 to the tenement to the left for use by the Moray House Institute of Education, now part of University of Edinburgh.

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 Q17795816

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)