Boundary walls, gates and railings, 34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace, Edinburgh, Inverleith, Edinburgh

Description

The house at 34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace was built in 1899 to designs by Henry Francis Kerr for Robert Alexander Douglas. It was subdivided into two flats (at ground and first floors) around 1945. It is a large, two-storey, roughly L-plan villa built in the Scots Renaissance style with some Arts and Crafts style detailing. The house is built in coursed rubble with smoothed, blond sandstone dressings including long and short quoins and window margins. The principal gables are crowstepped, the chimneystacks are tall and tapered, and some of the windows have chamfered stone transoms and mullions. The boundary walls and gates and gateways are decorative and retain their original ironwork which is possibly by Thomas Hadden. The house is in a suburban residential area of Edinburgh on a road between the Royal Botanic Garden and the Water of Leith.

The asymmetrical principal entrance elevation to the north has a prominent circular entrance tower in the re-entrant angle. The tower has an intricate stone swagged motif just below the eaves course and a conical slate roof. The elaborate stone doorpiece has shouldered mouldings, an entablature carved with 'RAD' 'ME' and '1899' flanking a stylised thistle and a triangular pediment with a decorative wrought iron lamp bracket.

To the right of the entrance tower is a large and advanced crowstepped gable with a ground floor bay window topped by a stone balustrade. There is a Venetian window at the first floor, with a blind central arch and hoodmould. The section to the left of the entrance tower has a Venetian window at the ground floor, also with a blind central arch and hoodmould.

The east elevation is gabled and has a four-light, first floor window with a stone mullion and transom. Over the window is a blind arch with an oculus window breaking the apex. There is another oculus window at the ground floor to the right. Adjoining the outer left is a single storey and attic, rectangular-plan service wing with low roof eaves and a steeply pitched roof. Attached to its east side is a glazed and timber lean-to and a timber garage.

The west elevation has an advanced gabled bay to the left with corbelled corners to the first floor. On the apex of this gable is a tall chimneystack. To the right of this gabled bay is an entrance, added in the mid-20^th century (when the property was subdivided). Above this entrance is a nine-light stair window.

The garden (south) elevation is asymmetrical. There is a full-height canted bay off-centre to the right.

The windows are timber sash and case and are mostly six- or nine-pane over plate glass. The entrance door for No.34 is boarded timber. The roofs are slate with cast iron rainwater goods and zinc ridges.

Along Inverleith Terrace are low, stone boundary walls with sandstone copes. To the left is a carriage and pedestrian gateway with three squat and square gateposts each topped by an ornate foliate, wrought-iron box gatepost (possibly the work of Thomas Haddon). To the right is a later gateway with later 20th century gates.

The south facing rear garden is terraced and has a brick retaining wall. Stone steps lead down to a lower level lawn. There is a stone wall along the south boundary of the plot.

The description of the ground floor interior is based on photographs in the sales particulars published in 2019 by Savills. There appears to be Jacobean-style timber panelling to the window surrounds and fireplaces in the principal rooms and decorative architraves to the arched openings in the entrance hall and drawing room. The interior of the first floor was not seen however the main staircase is thought to survive (see Design below).

Legal exclusions

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the single storey outbuildings to the east of the house.

Historical development

No.34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace (also previously known as Glenosmond) was built for Robert Alexander Douglas (1848-1912) and his wife, Margaret Elliott. Their initials are carved in the stone lintel over the entrance door, which also dates the house to 1899.

Douglas was trained as an ironmonger, becoming the sole partner of the large and successful ironmongers, James Gray's and Sons in Edinburgh. From 1894 until his death he was Councillor for the Calton Ward. As well as serving on council committees, in a private capacity he was a member of a few associations. It may be through one of these that he met Henry Francis Kerr, the architect who designed the house. The design was exhibited in the Edinburgh Architectural Association Exhibition Catalogue of 1907 (Dictionary of Scottish Architects).

This house is first shown on the 2^nd revision Ordnance Survey Map (surveyed 1905, published 1908). With the exception of the later garage, the footprint of the house on this map is largely the same as it exists today (2020). The previous Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1894, published 1896) shows Inverleith Terrace laid out along the south boundary of the Royal Botanic Gardens (then known as Inverleith House) but only a terrace of houses at the east end of the street has been built by this time.

A postcard from around 1900 on the 'Edinphoto' website shows No.34 almost complete except for its windows. Edzell Lodge (now Braeburn House Nursing Home), a large neighbouring villa of around the same date, is also shown in the foreground.

Around 1911 Douglas moved to Wester Coates Road in Edinburgh and No.34 was lived in by Rev John Martin of the United Free Church. Douglas was an elder of the Broughton United Free Church, and whilst Rev Martin was not at this church, this connection may be why his former house was occupied by the church.

By 1919 the architect James Walker Todd was resident in the house until his death in 1944. Walker Todd had ten children and one of his oldest was Ruthven Todd, a bohemian poet and author who achieved international acclaim in the mid-20^th century. The timber garage was added to the east side of the house before 1931 as it is shown of the Ordnance Survey map of that year.

Walker Todd died in 1944 and building warrant plans dated 30 November 1945 show the subsequent subdivision of the building into a ground floor flat and first floor flat. The drawings are by Todd's architectural firm Dick Peddie McKay and Jamieson (renamed after Todd's death). The plans were commissioned by the new owner and show that minimal changes were made to the internal layout and that the main staircase was retained to provide access to the upper flat.

There have been no further significant additions or alterations to the exterior of the building since it was subdivided around 1945.

Statement of Interest

34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace including boundary walls, gates and railings, meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

It is a large and well-detailed detached suburban villa from 1899 built in the Scots Renaissance style with distinguishing decorative stonework, including a prominent entrance tower with a pedimented doorpiece and distinctive tall and tapered chimneystacks. The interior retains Jacobean woodwork detailing.

It is a good example of the domestic architecture of Henry Kerr.

The highly decorative wrought iron gateposts, inspired by the style of 17th century Scottish ironwork, are a distinctive feature of the house. They are likely an early example of the ironwork of Thomas Haddon, a renowned ironwork designer and manufacturer in the early 20^th century.

The original footprint of the building and its exterior is largely unchanged.

The immediate garden setting and the wider street setting of the house remains largely unchanged since the late 19^th century and this setting adds interest to the building.

Design

34 and 34A Inverleith Terrace is a large and well-detailed detached villa from 1899. Built in a Scots Renaissance style it is characterised by a mixture of 16^th and 17^th century architectural motifs such as the pedimented doorway and castellated features including the turreted entrance, crowsteps and corbelling. Other notable design elements including Venetian windows with blind central arches and moulded hoodmoulds, oculus windows and mullioned and transomed windows. Unusually for a suburban domestic property there is well-detailed stonework on all the elevations, not just that facing the street.

The street facing elevation has the most decorative architectural detailing and the entrance tower with a conical roof is a prominent feature. The decorative carved stone swag detail at the eaves course and the pedimented entrance door are of a particularly high quality for a domestic building.

The design also has Arts and Crafts influences, a style popular in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and characterised by naturalistic details such as plants and flowers seen in the carving and ironwork design for example.

The Dictionary of Scottish Architects attributes the design of the house to Henry Kerr (1855-1946). Kerr was born in Broughton Place and educated at Edinburgh Academy, all in the vicinity of Inverleith Terrace. He began his own practice from Broughton Place in 1881 and was a prominent antiquary and architectural historian who published extensively in the 'RIAS Quarterly' and 'The Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries'.

A large part of Kerr's work was churches and public buildings. He designed a relatively small number of domestic properties. Two of these were large villas in Murrayfield and both are listed at category B. Redmount at 6 Wester Coates Road (LB43573), dates from 1896 and 2 Wester Coates Avenue (LB48917) was built around the same time as Inverleith Terrace.

All these villas have irregular plan forms and are designed in the Scots Renaissance style. They all have high quality stonework details including blind round arches over the windows and pedimented entrance doors with carved stonework. Redmount also has a distinctive octagonal entrance tower similar to that at No.34. 34 Inverleith Terrace is a good example of Kerr's domestic architecture.

The highly decorative wrought iron gateposts in front of the property are also a distinctive feature of architecture of this period. In the late 19th century there was renewed interest in decorative wrought ironwork inspired by the distinctive style of 17th century Scottish ironwork. Until the latter half of the 18th century decorative ironwork was largely undertaken in wrought iron but cast iron became increasingly popular because of mass-production.

As an ironmonger it is not surprising that Douglas wanted bespoke wrought-iron work for his home and he may have been influenced by his architect's assistant, Bailey Scott Murphy, who was articled to Kerr from 1892 to 1897. Murphy had a keen interest in 17^th century decorative ironwork and spent two years measuring and recording the subject from 1902-4. In 1905 he published English and Scottish Ironwork with detailed drawings of the best examples. Among the book's subscribers were Kerr and Douglas.

The designer of the gateposts at No.34/34A is not known, but they may be the early work of Thomas Hadden (1871-1940), who was also a subscriber to Murphy's publication. Hadden set up his firm in 1901 and was the leading manufacturer of wrought-iron work in Scotland in the early part of the 20^th century. Other examples of Hadden's decorative foliate ironwork in Edinburgh include the railings and gates at 25 Bridge Road (listed at category A, LB49552), the entrance gate for 4 Redford Road (listed at category C, LB49571) and the east gates for the Royal Botanic Gardens (listed at category C, LB49217). If the gateposts at No.34 are by Hadden they are an early example of his work.

The interior of No.34 has not been seen. However, sales particulars for the ground floor flat of 2019 show detailing such as Jacobean-style timber panelling to the window surrounds and fireplaces in the principal rooms and decorative architraves to the arched openings in the entrance hall and drawing room. This detailing appears to match the quality of the exterior design.

The original footprint of the building is largely unchanged from that shown on the 2^nd Edition Ordnance Survey. Many larger villas in Edinburgh were subdivided after the Second World War because of austerity. In many cases external stairs were added to access the upper flats. The subdivision of 34/34A Inverleith Terrace is not unusual, but the drawings show that it was sympathetically carried out to retain the original plan form and exterior design of the late 19^th century villa as much as possible. The drawings show that the alterations include a new entrance in the west elevation for the upper flat, which reused the door architrave from the entrance in the service wing (which was subsequently blocked) and a first floor window added to the left of the entrance tower. The 1945 plans and the plan form of the lower flat (seen on the 2019 sales particulars) suggest the main staircase is likely to survive and reused to provide access to the upper flat. The alterations to the property have not had a significant effect on the building's design interest.

Setting

No.34/34A Inverleith Terrace is a distinctive property in the street because of its scale, form and high-quality design. The street boundary of the property is fronted by highly decorative and bespoke gateposts and these make a significant contribution to the setting of the house and the wider street.

The property retains its large garden area, appropriate for the size of the villa. The rear, south facing garden is terraced and follows the topography of the site down to the Water of Leith. The early 20^th century layout of the south garden remains readable following the subdivision of the house. The immediate setting of the property is largely unchanged except for the second gateway and drive at the west

Inverleith Terrace is a distinctive suburban street because all the buildings are on the south side of the road. The north side of the road is the southern boundary of the Royal Botanic Garden (GDL00334). The properties in the street were built in the late 19^th century, and many of them are pairs of villas with full-height canted bays which was a typical design for houses of this period. The streetscape and the wider setting of No.34 is largely unchanged from the late 19^th century.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

The house was built at the end of the 19^th century. This was a period when many houses were being built as part of the urban expansion of cities and towns across Scotland. It is not an early or rare example of its building type for it late 19^th century date.

The house is of interest within its building type because of its high-quality design including a wealth of intricate stonework detailing and distinctive ironwork (see Design section above).

Social historical interest

The house was first commissioned by a local councillor and prominent Edinburgh business owner and it was later occupied by an internationally renowned author. The owners of the house in the first half of the 20^th century held relatively high social and economic status and a suburban building of this scale and architectural quality is typical for the wealthy urban middle class.

Association with people or events of national importance

There is no association with a person or event of national importance.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing
Wikidata IDs Q108408477 Q108408478

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