16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 23a and b, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 George Square, including boundary walls and railings and excluding the 2012 extension to the rear of number 24, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Description

James Brown, 1767-1779. Numerous alterations and additions including enlargement of attic storeys with new dormers: William Smith and Sons, joiners, 1882 (mansard roof at numbers 16 and 17); James Bow Dunn 1890 (number 21); Arthur Colville & Co, builder, 1911 (number 18); James Jerdan 1896, dormers and oriel window at rear (number 20); Reginald Fairlie, 1912, extension at rear (number 26); University of Edinburgh Department of Works, 1953 internal alterations and additions to numbers 27 and 28. 4- and 5-storey, 3- and 4-bay, mainly rectangular plan classical style houses which form a terrace, (23a and b single storey and basement insertion 1779). The terrace is now a series of university departments, offices and houses. Numbers 16-22 squared snecked pink and cream Craigmillar rubble sandstone with blue whin pinnings; numbers 23, 23a and 23b, 24-27 coursed rubble with snecked ashlar dressings; numbers 28 and 29 Craigleith ashlar. Set on ground sloping north to south and forming the west side of George Square. Numbers 16-22 and 28 architraved doorpieces; numbers 23, 25-27 Roman Doric doorpieces; number 24 Ionic doorpiece; numbers 25-27 raised long and short quoins; number 29 arched openings at ground floor, plain doorpiece with elaborate fanlight; number 23a and b arched openings at ground floor with central Venetian window.

Mainly 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows with some large pane glazing. Tall corniced gable stacks with yellow clay cans.

Most interiors were seen in 2015. Many have been altered and connected internally but still retain elements of outstanding Georgian interior schemes, staircases with decorative iron balusters and timber handrails, marble and timber chimneypieces, panelled timber doors, fine decorative cornices and some timber dadoes as well as some good late 19th century elements.

Statement of Interest

Numbers 16-29 George Square designed by the architect James Brown in 1766 and built between that year and 1779 is an important surviving component of the square. George Square was the earliest, largest and most ambitious scheme of unified town planning attempted in Edinburgh to date. The classical details of the doorpieces and regulated style of windows give the terrace coherence although there is considerable variation in the materials used in construction and in the height of the terraces. The variation in height necessitated by the slope of the ground is balanced by a certain discipline imposed on them with groupings of houses of similar height and detail, 16-23, 24-25 and 27-29. The concept of terraces with individual houses designed for occupation by one family was relatively new in Edinburgh where tenement living had been the norm and proved an immediate success with the aristocracy and leading citizens. The alterations to this side of the square are mainly at attic level on the façades; at the rear the alterations are largely confined to enlargement of windows and extensions at ground level. Many

late 18th century interior features survive along with good quality later detailing. The terrace is also still an important element in the streetscape and the post-war university campus, which was expanded here from 1960 onward.

The importance of George Square lies in its pioneering design in the Scottish context. In England squares of houses had been built since the Great Fire of London, the first one to have a garden at its centre dating from the 1680s, while squares governed by sets of rules followed in the 1720s. Thereafter squares increased in number and scale both in England and Ireland and became an important feature of Georgian town planning from

the mid-18th century to early 19th century across Britain. Some small scale projects such as Brown Square also designed by James Brown and John Adam's Adam Square (both now demolished) had been built in the early 1760s in Edinburgh but George Square represents a milestone in the development of planning in Edinburgh because of its size and the coherence of its design.

The conception of James Brown's George Square probably predates James Craig's New Town plan by a number of months. The Town Council of Edinburgh resolved to set up a subcommittee to develop the New Town project and to advertise a competition for a plan in January 1766. In May of that year competition entries were received and the results became known in August. However by comparison the first occupant had moved into George Square during 1766 and scheme must therefore have been proposed some months before if not the previous year. Therefore George Square is significant because of its early date as well as the concept of its design and the scale of the project.

It has generally been assumed that during the course of development of the west side of George Square the use of rubble walls with whin pinnings gave way to more regular coursing and droved ashlar suggesting that building began at the north end of this terrace and moved southwards, in fact, this is not borne out by studying the dates at which the buildings were occupied. Although number 16 at the north end of the west side was occupied by 1767, number 29, James Brown's own house, which is of dressed

ashlar, was built and occupied by 1770, thus predating number 20 in the middle of the terrace by five years. Therefore there must have been an element of choice by the client: the early buildings are not all of rubble and later ones of dressed ashlar.

The individual houses in George Square mainly followed the standard Georgian pattern developed in London in the early 18th century, and used extensively by the older John Wood in Bath in the 1750s, three bays wide with the entrance door to one side. This pattern was to become the norm in houses in the New Town – for example in George Street, Heriot Row and Charlotte Square. It is possible that the pattern was introduced by James Brown into Scotland. The earliest houses built in the New Town – Thistle Court is thought to be the earliest or the houses in St Andrew Square which followed in the 1770s - do not use the three bay pattern and it is only slightly later that this was generally adopted. This adds to the significance of the surviving houses in George Square.

George Square was also a pioneer in the concept of a central semi-private garden area as opposed to many earlier British and Continental examples which had communal areas suitable for public gatherings and entertainments. James Brown clearly intended the gardens to be ornamental pleasure grounds, which were to be kept 'in good order and in an ornate manner' as indicated in his rules. It was not until 1813 that animals were removed from the railed off central area and gardens established. That year the proprietors organised for the Commissioners of George Square District to employ a person to prepare a plan and estimate the expense of laying out the ground after which John Hay, gardener, was employed to carry out the improvements. Robert Kirkwood's map of 1817 shows planting around the edges and around a central circular feature with paths leading to the four sides of the square.

Numbers 16-29 George Square have been altered at various different times and several have been connected internally to enable horizontal circulation. However some fine late 18th century details are still in place as well as some added in the 19th century. Number 16 has good surviving plasterwork in the hall and principal public rooms on the ground floor; number 17 has an apsidal end to the dining room at the front, possibly unique in the surviving terraces in the square. Number 18 has good Victorian plasterwork in the principal ground floor room. Number 27 has a particularly well detailed interior dating from the 18th century (for example in the staircase) with 19th century alterations (for example the insertion of the buffet niche in the former dining room at the rear).

James Brown (1729-1807) was the second son of a William Brown of Lindsaylands, a Commissioner of Supply. James Brown's older brother was George Brown, an army officer, who became the laird of Elliston and Lindsaylands on his father's death in 1757 and was Receiver-General of Excise in Scotland. The square was named after him. As the son of a landed gentleman, James Brown may have had a scholarly rather than a practical training. After developing Brown Square in the early 1760s, he purchased the lands of Ross House in 1761 and drew up plans for George Square and the surrounding area. 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 clearly held in considerable esteem by the city fathers as 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.

Statutory listing address and listed building record revised in 2016 as part of the University of Edinburgh Estates Listing Review 2015-16.

Previously listed separately as George Square 16 and 17 (LB28809); George Square 18 (LB28810); George Square 19 (LB47583); George Square 20 (LB47584) George Square 21 (LB28813); George Square 22 (LB28814); George Square 23 (LB28816); George Square 23a and 23b (LB28815); George Square 24 (LB28817); George Square 25 (LB28818); George Square 26 (LB28819); George Square 27 (LB28820); George Square 28 (LB28821); George Square 29 (LB28822).

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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