Description

Circa 1730. 2-storey with basement, 5-bay villa (No 5 Clinton Road) with later 19th century and later additions to rear (No 3 Clinton Road) set in mature formal landscaped gardens; subdivided into 2 houses (1981). Roughcast with sandstone margins; stone quoins strips to 19th century additions.

E (No 5, ORIGINAL) ELEVATION: 5 bays. Steps oversailing basement to doorway in central bay; 2-leaf panelled door; 3-light fanlight. Single windows to all floors; tripartite window (circa 1930s) with concrete lintel at ground floor across both bays to right of entrance. Dummy windows outer bays left at ground and 1st floors. Quadrant walls adjoining to outer left and right, linked to ball finialled square-plan piers.

S (No 3) ELEVATION: 4 bays with recessed single storey entrance porch to outer left. Steps up to entrance porch; broad chamfered doorway; cornice above; 2-leaf panelled doors. Full-height canted window in advanced 1st bay; slate canopy with stylized stone pediment behind; secondary doorway flanking to right of canted window at basement. Single storey flat-roofed addition at ground in 2nd bay; 2nd bay recessed behind addition; 18-pane sash and case window at 1st floor. Single windows in 2 bays to outer right.

W (No 5) ELEVATION: 4 bays of main house stepped back from right to left; large 4-bay flat-roofed single storey extension advanced to left and masking elevation with round-arched small-pane windows. Single windows in recessed bay of main house to outer right. Single windows at 1st floor of main house to rounded stair block and 3rd bay; modern lean-to conservatory at 1st floor in 1st bay.

N (No 5 and No 3) ELEVATION: 5 bays, including 4 bays of 1930s flat-roofed extension to outer right. Single windows in 2-storey 1st bay (dummy). Single windows in 2nd and 5th bays. Secondary entrance with window flanking to right in 3rd bay. Bipartite window in 4th bay. Predominantly 12-pane sash and case windows.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows (some 18th century dummy windows), round-arched dormers, rooflights. Piended roofs (swept at eaves to No 3), grey slates; scalloped lead flashings; roughcast and corniced ridge stacks; shouldered and corniced wallhead stack to N of 19th century addition; pedimented dormers to W and S; skylights.

INTERIOR (No 3 and 5 seen 1993; No 5 seen 2013): fine interior decoration. No 5: Timber panelled drawing room, dining room and 2 bedrooms; late 18th century classical timber fireplace with marble slip; basket-arched and keystoned marble fireplace to drawing room and basket-arched marble chimneypiece to bedroom; recessed fitted display cabinets to 1st floor public room (N); glazed geometric pattern display cabinets to N bedroom.

GATEPIERS, BOUNDARY WALLS AND GARDEN WALLS: buttressed, channelled and corniced 18th century gatepiers with ball finials. Quadrant walls adjoining gatepiers; pedestrian gateway through slapping with decorative timber gate; high coped rubble boundary and mutual walls. Coped gatepiers with chamfered angles (at entrance to No 3); pedestrian gateway through slapping to right with decorative timber gate. N-S garden wall (W face harled to N of house). Pointed-arched pedestrian and carriage gateways to modern flat-roofed garages.

DOVECOT: 17th century fabric largely incorporated into 19th century outbuilding additions. Square section dovecot with N-facing lectern and piend-roofed addition to N, now in use as workshop accommodation (2013). Squared and snecked sandstone rubble; some droved dressings; grey slate roof (skylights to addition). W elevation: doorway with window flanking to right and window at 1st floor of dovecot; single window to addition. 12 flight holes to chamfered SW angle. N elevation: doorway to addition with window flanking to right. Interior: 232 brick nesting boxes; well or chamber shaft.

Statement of Interest

East Morningside House is an outstanding earlier 18th century classical villa and a rare survival in its suburban location. The 18th century house (No 5) includes the rare survival of original outstanding earlier 18th century panelling to its 4 principal rooms with some fine and unusual joinery detailing. The house was likely re-orientated from E to S during the 19th century, but the E entrance was reopened in 1981 when the house was subdivided. The later 19th century addition (now No 3) is neatly subdivided from the earlier house, whereby both houses maintain their own period character.

The novelist Susan Ferrier lived at East Morningside House in the early 19th century and was connected to Sir Walter Scott.

The arrangement of the dovecot is unusual. In most cases the lectern faces S to catch the sun, and the doorway is also on the S side. Here the lectern faces N, the doorway is to the W, and the flight holes are across the SW angle.

The lodge at No 7 Clinton Road is listed separately.

List description updated in 1993 and 2013.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17569586

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)