Description

1780-90 with subsequent alterations; John Bryce, 1883. Pair of 3-storey and attic, 3-bay former classical houses with later projections at ground. Droved cream sandstone ashlar with polished dressings. Polished granite facing frames units at ground; 3-bay former bank to right with recessed entrance at centre; very simple divided plate glass front to left, with further door to upper floors (133a). Rusticated quoins frame each house. Architraved windows with cornices at 1st floor. Cornice; 2 pairs of later 19th century piend-roofed dormers, bipartite to No 131, canted to No 133.

Significant additions to rear of both properties, particularly No 133.

Plate glass timber sash and case windows. Ashlar coped skews; stone stacks, rendered to W; recessed downpipe at centre; grey slates.

INTERIOR: both properties have been significantly altered, and interconnect on all upper floors. At No 131 stair has been removed at ground and 1st floor, but simple flight leads from front room of Bank to former Drawing Room; to accommodate this, veined orange marble 19th century chimneypiece with egg and dart mouldings removed to opposite wall (stolen 1995); pair of doors with curious panelled frames lead to central corridor created by addition of later wall; rear room with similar chimneypiece (stolen 1995) and glazing to conservatory beyond; earlier 19th century cornices en suite; surviving stair with alternate decorative cast-iron banisters and oval rooflight supported on cove. Slapping from former Drawing Room to adjoining room in No 133. This room with some surviving panelled dado (replacement panelled doors); tripartite window with fluted pilasters to rear room; cantilevered stone stair with similar banisters; stairwell with plaster panels at upper floor, swagged frieze, and coved lantern with Vitruvian scrolled frieze and foliate papier mache decoration (stair has security bars between opposing flights). Access to No 135 at attic (see separate listing). No 133 has large saloon to rear at ground - some of original cornice survives above suspended ceiling.

Statement of Interest

From 1822 William Burn, and after 1844 David Bryce, had their offices at No 131. Henry Raeburn lived for a time at No 133, as did Catherine Sinclair later. Kirkwood shows a pair of houses, rusticated at ground, with tripartite doors to outer bays. No 133 was formerly the Leicester Permanent Building Society, and more recently a hairdressers. A Group with Nos125-141 (odd nos) George Street as a significant surviving part of the original fabric of Edinburgh's New Town, one of the most important and best preserved examples of urban planning in Britain. The alterations at No 131 were carried out in 1983.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17806666

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings