Description

John Lessels, 1890, incorporating older fabric (see Notes). 3-storey and attic single bay tenement with finialled crowstepped gable and pend (Currie's Close)to left at ground floor. Bull-faced squared and snecked sandstone with polished dressings. Moulded cill courses to 1st and 2nd floors; moulded string course between ground and 1st floors and between 2nd floor and attic. Chamfered surrounds to windows. Mullioned and transomed 3-light oriel (MISSION HALL in gilded letters below window) with chamfered ogee-arched windows at 1st floor; hoodmoulded 3-light ogee-arched window with carved label stops and decorative motif over at 2nd floor; single ogee-arched window in gable above. Modern doors with leaded glazing to fanlights at ground.

Lying-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Graded grey slates.

Statement of Interest

Lessels' Mission Hall appears to incorporate part of an earlier pinkish rubble wall to right. The long rectangle of Grassmarket was already a suburb and a secondary market place by 1500. After the Battle of Flodden in 1513 the city walls were strengthened and the Grassmarket and Cowgate enclosed by the Flodden Wall. Agricultural produce was sold in the Grassmarket until well into the 20th century; old photographs show up-ended carts and the bars and hostels associated with the market. It was also a place of public execution.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17794948

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 Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)