Description

1783-5. 4-storey with dormered attic and basement, 7 bay symmetrical tenement with the central 3 bays slightly advanced. It is constructed from ashlar sandstone with long and short quoined corners, and the rear elevation is rubble sandstone. The windows to the centre bay are blind. The entrance doors of Nos 14 and 16 have Roman Doric pilastered and corniced doorpieces and there are entrance platts oversailing the basement. At the centre of the rear elevation is an advanced gabled wing, which was formerly the George Square Assembly Rooms (now converted to housing, 2015). There are some decorative cast iron window boxes to the rear elevation.

The windows are predominantly 12-pane glazing in sash and case timber frames. The roofs have grey slates and there are wide, corniced ridge and gable stacks with cylindrical cans. There are low coped walls with cast iron railings.

Statement of Interest

Dating to the 1780s, 14-16 Buccleuch Place is an important and early example of classically proportioned tenement, forming part of a later 18th century urban planning scheme by prominent architect James Brown. Unusually 14-16 Buccleuch Place is the only standalone tenement on this street and this is likely to be because it was designed to accommodate the George Square assembly rooms. Situated in the south side of Edinburgh, this 4-storey building, together with the other listed tenements on Buccleuch Place, form an imposing street elevation of some pretension, which has not been significantly altered. Constructed in the then fashionable classical style, it is built from finely jointed ashlar and has good classical details.

Buccleuch Place was laid out by James Brown as a continuation of his scheme for George Square. Brown purchased the lands of Ross House in 1761 and his formal feuing plan, which shows Buccleuch Place is dated 1779. Whilst the feuing of George Square began in 1776, thereby preceding this plan, the first feus in Buccleuch Place were taken out in 1779 and the tenements are understood to date from 1780 onwards.

The listed building records for 1-6 Buccleuch Place written in 1970 states that the plainer early tenements are probably by James Brown and those with channelled or rusticated ground floors are probably by other designers including John Simpson and Alex Deans in 1786 and 1788 and Charles Black and Walter Paterson.

James Brown (1729-1807) was the second son of a William Brown of Lindsaylands, a Commissioner of Supply. Nothing is yet known of James Brown's training but as the son of a landed gentleman, he may have had a scholarly rather than a practical training, and may have relied on pattern books in his early designs. Brown developed the areas around George Square in the 1780s and was involved in various projects such as the Riding School and the development of South Bridge. He was one of the trustees engaged to ensure that the Act of Parliament for building South Bridge and the wide range of improvements connected with this were carried out.

This part of Edinburgh became the main centre of the city, preceding the New Town, as it was this development that drew aristocratic and wealthy families from their cramped houses in the Old Town. The properties of Buccleuch Place have been the homes of many notable personalities, as well as being associated with the recreational activities of the residents of George Square by the George Square Assembly Rooms which was to the rear of Nos. 14-16 Buccleuch Place. An advertisement in the Caledonian Mercury of April 1783 describes a general meeting of subscribers at Archers' Hall (around the corner from George Square) to 'fix the plan' of the new Assembly Rooms. An advertisement in the Caledonian Mercury of January 1785 states the new assembly rooms are now open. In the 19th century the assembly rooms moved to George Street (see separate listing) and the former assembly rooms at 14-16 Buccleuch Place were converted to housing.

Buccleuch Place was laid out to complement and to be at least as grand as George Square although it reverted to the traditional tenements style of housing. Apart from George Square, The Old Edinburgh Club described Buccleuch Place in 1948 as "perhaps the most ambitious of James Brown's building schemes" (Old Edinburgh Club, p.27).

In conjunction with its redevelopment of George Square the University of Edinburgh began buying up properties on Buccleuch Place for use as departmental offices and tutoring rooms from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2015 as part of the University of Edinburgh Estate Review. Previously listed as 'Buccleuch Place 14-16'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17794466

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)