Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Style of George Washington Browne, 1900. Free Renaissance warehouse and head office building forming open U-plan on obliquely angled corner site. Cream sandstone, principal elevation ashlar, ashlar base course and parapet; red engineering bricks to rear.

S (COBURG STREET) ELEVATION: 2-storey 9-bay ashlar front on base course raised to cill at ground floor; moulded architraves and cornices; cill course to shorter 1st floor windows. Polished pink granite arcaded doorpiece to oblique left angle consists of pair of arched doorways supported on panelled piers turning corner, with shallow entablature and blank paterae in spandrels; plate glass doors, right doorway filled-in unsympathetically with concrete leaving upper window only.

Taller outer left bay pedimented and flanked by corbelled turrets above ground; single window at ground, stepped tripartite at 1st floor with block corniced lights and heavy keystone to centre light. Dentilled pediment and cartouche in tympanum (initials JM and JE); barrel finial. Turrets each with bipartites at 1st floor and breaking eaves in louvred, Ionic columned and corniced dome capped cupolae.

Bays to right lower, 5 centre bays with cornice, regular fenestration and parapet coping breaking over open oculi to each bay; final 3 bays with 4 short windows at ground, end one with round-headed frame and 3/4 engaged columns (opening in base course filled in); above, single windows to left and keystoned round window to right frame canted tripartite oriel.

SW (COUPER STREET) ELEVATION: 3-storey and basement 9-bay warehouse front on ground rising to N; squared and snecked cream sandstone with long and short ashlar dressings; regular fenestration; 3 N bays with attic storey and further parapet; bipartite windows punched in base course; tall single windows at ground; shorter bipartite windows to 1st floor, small tripartite windows to 2nd floor with chamfered reveals; similar bipartites to attic storey. Right bay with broad depressed-arch carriage pend through basement and ground floors; pal stones. From right at ground, window between bays 5 and 6, bay 7 with bipartite window, windows between bays 7 to 9.

REAR ELEVATIONS: red brick; canted staircase bay to office range, with tall, narrow windows.

Windows a variety of timber sash and case and casements, both multi-pane and plate glass. Pitched roof to offices, pitched and flat-topped to warehouse; grey slates. Ashlar coped skews.

INTERIOR: Free Renaissance style continues in timber detailing and cornices; entrance hall with pilastered timber lobbies and oak stair with turned balusters and panelled newels; main room at ground with panelled fire surround, and overmantel framed by engaged fluted columns supporting entablature of room; meeting room at 1st floor with oak doorcases and cornices, windows surrounds (panelled pilasters to tripartite window), and arched framing to turrets; fitted panelled cupboards to adjoining closet. Warehouses gutted.

Statement of Special Interest

Formerly belonged to Melroses Ltd, Tea Merchants. Warehouse and office now in separate ownership.

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.