Description

Dick Peddie & Walker Todd, 1929. 2-storey, 5-bay L-plan, piend-roofed classical astylar house with pedimented front door and 2-storey service wing advanced to NW. Harled with ashlar dressings. Basecourse, cill course at 1st floor, eaves course. Windows with projecting ashlar cills.

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: long flight of paved steps with low coped edges leading to central entrance. 2-leaf timber panelled door in roll-moulded architrave with bracketed semi-circular pediment above. Regular fenestration with paired windows to outer bays. Irregularly fenestrated wing advanced to outer right.

SE ELEVATION: 2 bays. Canted window at ground to left; bipartite window at ground to right; regular fenestration above.

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: half-glazed timber panelled French doors to centre in roll-moulded architrave; blind tablet above with projecting cornice supported on scrolled brackets. Regular fenestration in 5 bays. Irregularly fenestrated service wing recessed to outer left.

NW ELEVATION: irregularly fenestrated with half-glazed timber door at ground to right in plain ashlar surround; 3 piend-roofed dormers breaking eaves at 1st-floor.

8 and 9-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows to most elevations. Some 4-pane timber casement windows to NW wing. Piended grey slate roof with stone ridge tiles. Modern ventilation pipes to roof. Buff painted cast-iron rainwater goods with enclosed guttering. Tall harled stacks with projecting ashlar cornices and paired brown cans.

INTERIOR: half-glazed timber panelled inner door to entrance lobby. Rest of house not inspected, but appears to retain original features.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with Dovecot, Ha-Ha, Gibson House (formerly Colinton House), Stables, House at Walled Garden, Walled Garden, Garden Store, Main School Building, Chalmers and Rogerson Houses, South Lodge, Gatepiers and Boundary wall. Colinton Castle, which stands in the garden, is a Scheduled Monument. The Headmaster's house was designed and built in conjunction with the Merchiston Castle School, which moved to this site in the 1920s. It is stylistically similar to the main school building and the boarding houses of Chalmers and Rogerson. To the NW of the house stand the ruins of the original Colinton Castle, now providing a boundary to the rear of the garden. The house is bounded to the SE by the ha-ha and steps that led from the castle to the formal shrubbery gardens. Many mature trees from the older landscape still surround the building. The house remains mainly unaltered and is a good example of an early 20th century planned school building.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779866

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)