Description

Sir James Gowans, 1868-70. 4-storey, attic and basement 6-bay mansard-roofed tenement block with idiosyncratic details. Polished ashlar (painted to ground). String courses dividing floors; stone bracketed eaves. Decorative bracketed surrounds to windows. Serrated Moorish lintels to 1st floor. Round-arched windows to 2nd floor push up bracketed eaves below dormers. Steeply-pitched gabled dormers to attic with stone bracketed eaves. Entrances in outer left, 3rd from left and 2nd from right bays; outer left: round-arched timber panelled door in round-arched glazed doorpiece with flanking side-lights in recess with serrated carved decoration in spandrels; 3rd from left and 2nd from right: 2-leaf glazed timber doors (modern) with round-arched fanlights (sunburst to right, blocked to left) in recessed surrounds with serrated decoration on spandrels. Tripartite windows with decorative stone mullions to each floor in 2nd and 4th from left and outer right bays.

Predominantly plate glass in timber sash and case windows. Graded grey slates. Moulded stone ridge. Fluted ashlar stalks with scalloped, bracketed cornices; decorative octagonal cans with serrated tops.

BOUNDARY WALL AND RAILINGS: decorative cast-iron railings on low ashlar boundary wall with stone piers marking entrance at No 32.

Statement of Interest

Part of a larger ensemble designed by Gowans: with characteristically logical planning, idiosyncratic detailing and exemplary execution. Design based on multiples of 2 ft and angles of 22.5, 45 and 67.5 degrees. 'The Builder' admires Gowans' plan, with 'the water closets all ventilated from the outside,' and 'dark bedrooms at the centre of corner blocks got rid of,' but not the 'geometric details,' considering them to have 'novelty value only,' and 'more suited for execution in wood,' while admitting 'the general effect' to be 'striking and picturesque.' The A Group comprises 11-15 Cornwall Street, 25 Castle Terrace and 17 Cornwall Street, 26-28 Castle Terrace, 29 Castle Terrace, 30, 31 and 32 Castle Terrace, 33, 34 and 35 Castle Terrace and 36 Castle Terrace.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17569898

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability