Description

Thomas W Turnbull, 1929-30. Convalescent home. Extension to E at rear 1995 by Mottram Patrick Partnership. 2-storey main block with Y-plan single storey wings creating butterfly plan. Harled with artificial stone quoins and dressings; base course, eaves course. Double glazed window units with 8-pane glazing pattern.

N ELEVATION: near-symmetrical; eaves swept down to single storey, advanced porch, timbler glazed door with side lights and fanlight over at centre with windows flanking in round-arched tripartite opening, narrow window on right return. 2 piended dormers above to 1st floor. 2-storey bays either side of porch with 2 bipartites at ground and 1st floor except bay to bay to left which has tripartite at ground floor. Recessed, single storey bay with bipartite at ground and dormer to 1st floor linking main block to single storey wings. W wing with

3 bipartites at ground, E wing with 5 single windows.

S ELEVATION: symmetrical. Full-height, recessed central bay. Entrance at ground floor with timber glazed double doors to garden at centre of small-pane glazed screen between 2 Ionic columns, originally from Moredun House, supporting curved balcony above with ironwork balustrade. Narrow doorway at 1st floor flanked by 2 windows,

1 blocked. Flanked by advanced, piended, 4-bay blocks with single storey, 7-bay wings adjoining.

Piended roofs with swept eaves, grey slates, low harled corniced ridge stacks to main block.

1995 ADDITION to SE: harled with artificial stone blocking course, single storey, symmetrical with advanced central bay with 2 windows and 2 piended outer bays each with window, all uPVC bipartites with cill at ground level. Grey slates.

INTERIOR: well-detailed original decorative scheme largely intact. Entrance hall with natural timber dado panelling and surrounds to all openings. Dog-leg stair, simple cast-iron balusters with moulded bases and bracelet at centre of shaft. Corridors to wings retain natural timber dado panelling, Billiard Room to NW wing with original fittings.

SUNDIAL: on patio to S, 18th century carved baulster set on new concrete base.

STABLES: 2 mid 19th century ranges forming courtyard, with rubble walls and gatepiers to E of main house. N range: piended, single storey and attic, squared rubble with ashlar dressings. Enlarged garage opening to outer left, 4 timber boarded doors to stalls with 2-pane fanlights over flanked by windows with fixed lights, small-pane glazing. 2 doors to haylofts over breaking eaves in piended dormerheads, 3 rooflights.

S range: lower single storey rubble lean-to range, probably cartshed, openings altered, some with timber boarded doors, others bricked up. Rubble quadrant walls adjoin each range to E terminating in stugged ashlar drum gatepiers.

LODGE: 1929-30 single storey lodge, harled with painted artificial stone quoins, base course and eaves course. Piended with central stack, door in angle to N, panelled with strip fanlight. Bipartites to each elevation.

GATEPIERS, GATES AND QUADRANT WALLS: originally served Moredun House. 4 ashlar drum gatepiers linked by low ashlar coped wall of squared rubble with late 19th century cast-iron railings, cast- and wrought-iron gates.

Statement of Interest

Miss Helen Murray, who died in 1918 left her estate to found a home in memory of her parents George and Agnes Murray. The home was to be for wounded soldiers and sailors. The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh acquired the estate for the purpose in 1923. The original intention was to use the existing 18th century Moredun House on the site, but it was found to have severe dry rot and was demolished; the columns on the S front were salvaged and reused, and the stables, gatepiers and gates survive. The George and Agnes Murray Home was opened by The Prince of Wales in June 1930. Some parkland remains to the N; the gardens at Moredun were noted for their extensive glasshouses and early produce. Moredun was the estate of the Stewarts of Goodtrees in the early 17th century and was known as Goodtrees (Gutters) until 1769 when it passed to Baron David Stewart Moncrieff in 1769. A late 18th century domed icehouse associated with the house is documented in PSAS LXXXIV p208.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17807866

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 Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)