Description

Circa 1820 with mid and late 19th century additions to side and rear. 2-storey, attic and basement, 3-bay, gabled, Classical villa with swept steps to columned and balustraded porch, canted dormers, curvilinear gables and lower piend-roofed wing to E with bargeboarded canted dormer. Polished ashlar to front elevation and gables; squared, coursed sandstone to sides and rear Base course; ground floor cill course; eaves cornice; blocking course. Raised pilaster quoins to front elevation; raised window margins; projecting cills.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: S (principal) elevation with advanced central entrance bay; swept balustraded steps distyle Tuscan order porch surmounted by balustraded stone balcony with urn finials; timber-panelled front door in round-arched margined architrave with plate glass fanlight; bipartite window at 1st floor; blind tablet with curved top above at parapet; round-arched leaded dormer to attic. Piend-roofed canted dormers to outer bays. W elevation with mid 19th century corniced canted windows: single storey to right with ball finials; 2-storey to left.

Plate glass in timber sash and case windows. Corniced gablehead stacks with octagonal clay cans.

INTERIOR: good interior features including bow-ended former dining room at ground with buffet recess; timber staircase with ornately carved newel and balusters. Some original cornicing and one original timber chimneypiece.

GATES, GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALL: chamfered gatepiers to SE and SW with round arch capstones. Wrought-iron gates. Coped rubble boundary wall.

Statement of Interest

A good early 19th century Classical villa, with good quality Victorian additions, set back from the street in the heart of Duddingston village. The house originally had a piended roof (the line of which is still evident) and simple arched doorway. The present porch appears to be a slightly later addition but is shown with the curved staircase on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey Town Plan. The E wing and canted windows date from the late 19th century and are first shown on Bartholemew's Plan of the City of Edinburgh.

The house was given to the Christian Missionary in 1897 and used as a respite home for missionaries until the later 20th century when it was leased to the Church of Scotland. The house had by this time been institutionalised with internal alterations including partitioning of principal rooms and the removal of many original features. The partitioning has been removed by the present owners.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56631826

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.

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