Description

David Cousin & John Lessels, dated 1869. 5-storey, crow-stepped, Scots Baronial tenement on prominent corner site with altered commercial premises to ground. Snecked rubble with ashlar margins, raised to stair windows. Moulded cornice to ground and 4th storey, some string courses. Slightly advanced stairtower to far right at 2 St Mary's Street with polygonal louvred turret top. Pedimented dormerheads, one to St Mary's Street with datestone above (see Notes). Recessed doorways to some shops.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: 2-bay canted corner with corbelled crow-stepped gable and 2-storey canted oriel windows to 3rd & 4th storeys. 1st storey windows with cornices and decorative strapwork above.

Roll-moulded doorway to stairtower with 4-panel timber entrance door and carved memorial plaque above (see Notes).

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows to upper storeys, plate glass to ground. Grey slates. Gable and ridge stacks.

Statement of Interest

B Group with Nos 4-68 St Mary's Street. This is a distinctive, well-detailed corner tenement which was the first building to be erected after the City Improvement Act of 1867. The corner detailing, with strapwork to the windows at the 1st storey and the oriel window above add significant character to the streetscape.

The stair tower is defined externally by a series of differently shaped windows and raised margins and with an unusual louvred turret at the apex. A datestone to the gable at St Mary's Street is carved 1869 and the is a monogram with intertwined initials, DC AND JL above. There is a carved memorial tablet above the close entrance with 'THIS IS THE FIRST BUILDING ERECTED UNDER THE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1867. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM CHAMBERS OF GLENORMISTON LORD PROVOST'.

St Mary Street was formed as part of the first wave of sanitary improvements within the Old Town of Edinburgh. Living conditions in the Old Town declined during the course of the early 19th century as the wealthier residents moved to the more salubrious New Town. By 1850, the area had one of the worst slums in Europe. The Town Council decided to begin a Sanitary Improvement Scheme and instituted the 1867 Edinburgh Improvement Act. This involved the large-scale clearance, on health grounds, of 34 selected areas of the Old Town, including the Eastern section of the old St Mary's Wynd. There was no immediate requirement to build any new houses as part of the scheme until a new agency, the Edinburgh City Improvement Trust, was set up and began a programme of new house building over a 20 year period.

St Mary's, Blackfriars and Jeffrey Streets were part of the initial wave of building and were intended for workers and artisans - not for the residents who had previously lived in the area, who were too poor to afford the rents.

John Lessels (1809-1883) came from a family of builder-architects. With a successful practice in Edinburgh, he became friendly with David Cousin, the City Architect. As a result of the friendship, Lessels was appointed joint architect to the City Improvement Trust in 1866 and the proposals for St Mary Street were presented later that year.

List description revised as part of Edinburgh Holyrood Ward resurvey 2007-08.

Statutory address updated (2015). Previously listed as '2 St Mary's Street and 274-278 (even nos) Canongate'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17793752

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.

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