Garage, 49 Spylaw Bank Road, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Description

Sir Robert Lorimer, 1887-99. 2-storey with 3-storey wing to E, irregular-plan English style house with Arts and Crafts details. Central swept-roof porch to N and verandah to S with bracketed eaves and flanking bays; round tower advanced to W; service wing to NE corner. Predominantly bell-cast piended roof with some gables. Cream-painted harl with red sandstone cills and other dressings. 1st floor corbelled out to W. Flat-roofed dormers to attic.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: swept roof over recessed porch containing timber panelled door in stop-chamfered round arch with 1899 carved onto keystone and rosettes in flanking voussoirs; tripartite window to right with roll-moulded red sandstone mullions; pilaster between door and window with leaf motif to capital. Tripartite dormer above. Piend-roofed 2-storey bay to right with single window to right at 1st floor. Gabled bay to left with tall staircase window. Service wing recessed to outer left; single-storey outshot at ground with piended roof behind coped parapet wall.

W (SIDE) ELEVATION: round tower advanced to centre; single windows at both floors. Stack to left; gable to outer left with tripartite window at ground and bipartite window at 1st floor. Blind wall to right of tower.

S (PRINCIPAL/GARDEN) ELEVATION: central verandah recessed under swept roof. Roof supported at centre with timber Y-shaped post. Tripartite window at rear of verandah to centre; advanced canted bay to right; large dormer to swept roof above. 2-storey piend-roofed bay to left with 5-light window at ground and quadripartite window at 1st floor; half-glazed timber panelled door to right return onto verandah. 3-storey bay to right with canted corner corbelled out at 1st and 2nd floors and asymmetrical jerkin-headed roof; modern sliding doors at ground; quadripartite window at 1st floor; bipartite window to top floor; single window to canted corner at ground.

E (SIDE) ELEVATION: advanced piend-roofed bay to centre with 2 sash and case windows at ground and bipartite casement at 1st floor. Irregularly fenestrated wing recessed to left with dormer at 2nd floor attic. Single-storey scullery slightly recessed to outer right with half-glazed door and flanking windows.

Predominantly timber casements with leaded lights; some 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Rendered corniced stacks with red clay cans. Red tiled roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods with 1 decorative hopper to W.

INTERIOR: pine staircase with decorative panels between balusters carved with an interlaced floral and vine pattern (see Notes); landing ceiling with deep cornice and vine frieze; decorative plaster vine motifs to corners of ceiling. Stop-chamfered stone fireplace in Drawing Room with thin brick inset and substantial timber (pine?) mantelpiece with integral plate-rack forming over-mantel; tiled hearth with raised stone surround; brass bell to right of fireplace. Semicircular alcove to left of fireplace entered through round arch, with foliate plaster frieze and decorative plasterwork to ceiling comprising "1898", interlaced with foliage and berries. Dining room fireplace with similar brick inset and red sandstone surround; timber mantelpiece incorporating compartmental shelves around fireplace; brass bell to left of fireplace. Polished pine timber panelled interior doors with Lorimer-designed brass door furniture and reeded brass door plates. Cornices to principal rooms. Cast-iron lamp in verandah.

MOTOR HOUSE: harled garage for single car; top-glazed timber-boarded folding doors; red tiled roof.

BOUNDARY WALL, GATEPIERS, GARDEN TERRACE: round-coped random rubble boundary wall. Corniced gatepiers, some with small ball caps. Timber boarded gates with iron studs and pointed arch details. Garden terrace with coped snecked sandstone retaining wall and central flight of 5 stone steps to lawn.

Statement of Interest

A delightful house, well positioned to make the most of the awkward shape of its feu. The house is sited and planned so that the principal rooms and main bedrooms face South and overlook the garden, while the rooms used by the servants face North and East, and do not overlook the main garden, thereby making it relatively private. This house is very typical of the style of house that Lorimer built in Colinton, and includes all the standard features that are found in his other houses in the area; round tower; cat-slide roofs over central porch and verandah with flanking bays; jerkin-headed gable; bell-cast roof; 1st floor corbelled out to one elevation; scullery outshot with coped parapet wall; tall staircase window; decorative stonework around the front door; harled walls, sandstone cills; red-tiled roof, and so on. All his houses in this part of Colinton have some of these features, but this is the only house that has them all. It is stylistically most similar to Acharra, Number 3 Spylaw Park, which Lorimer was building in the same year. The exterior is relatively unchanged, the only alteration being the sliding doors on the South elevation (this section of wall was originally blind). It is one of the few houses which has not had its verandah glazed in. The interior is very well detailed. The staircase banisters are particularly noteworthy, and are remarkably similar to some that Lorimer designed for the town house of his friend William Burrell at 8 Great Western Terrace, Glasgow (see Plate G10, British Home of To-Day). The interior plasterwork is also amongst of the most elaborate in Colinton. Lorimer produced designs for the gardens of all the houses he built he built in Colinton, and the garden terrace was part of his plan.

External Links

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