Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

University of Edinburgh, Former Boroughmuir School, 22-24 Warrender Park Crescent, Including Boundary Wall, Railings and Gatepiers, EdinburghLB27968

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category: B
Date Added: 14/12/1970
Last Date Amended: 17/07/2015

Local Authority: Edinburgh
Planning Authority: Edinburgh
Burgh: Edinburgh

NGR: NT 24996 72379
Coordinates: 324996, 672379

Description

John A Carfrae, 1902. 3-storey and attic T-plan Free Renaissance former school (basement to Bruntsfield Links). Bull-faced orange sandstone with cream ashlar dressings (ground floor to Bruntsfield Links entirely ashlar). Steeply-pitched roofs; finialled louvred lantern/ventilators to central block and flanking wings; decorative truncated obelisks on channelled pilaster strips with dentilled cornices to corners. Ashlar cill courses at 1st and 2nd floors; eaves cornice.

N (BRUNTSFIELD LINKS) ELEVATION: 23 bays, symmetrically grouped 3-1-1-1-1-1-3 on either side of central bay. Horizontal ashlar channelling to 1st and 2nd floors; dentilled eaves cornice. Small windows to basement in all left bays. Slightly advanced gabled blocks to outer left and right; 3 key-blocked segmental-headed windows to ground floor; 3 windows to 1st floor; larger window to centre of 2nd floor, key-blocked, supported by elongated brackets, and flanked by enriched Ionic columns with segmental pediments, flanked by 2 smaller windows. 2nd and 3rd bays from left and right have key-blocked round-arched window at ground floor, flanked by 2 smaller rectangular windows; 3 windows to 1st floor; window with segmental-pedimented dormerhead breaking eaves at 2nd floor, flanked by 2 smaller windows. Stone-mullioned bipartite windows to each floor (3 small finialled dormers to attic) in recessed bays flanking 3-storey canted bay. Stone-mullioned windows to canted bay; hexagonal windows to outer facets at 2nd floor level and ashlar balcony across flanking bays. Slightly advanced 7-bay centre block; segmental-headed key–blocked windows to outer 6 bays at ground floor; 7 windows to 1st and 2nd floors; those in penultimate bays to left and right flanked by enriched Ionic columns with segmental pediments breaking eaves, supported by elongated brackets which act as pedestals at 2nd floor; sculpted roundels in pediment and under 2nd floor windows; side windows at 1st floor flanked by Ionic pilasters.

E ELEVATION: ashlar to ground floor of main block to right; horizontal ashlar channelling to 1st floor. Corniced door in relieving arch off-set to left; 2 windows off-set to left at 1st floor; central window with segmental pediment breaking eaves at 2nd floor flanked by 2 smaller windows to either side. Tripartite window to E and W gable ends of taller central main block.

E ELEVATION OF T WING: 3 polychrome segmental-headed windows at ground floor to left; 3 large and 1 small window to right; 2nd floor regularly fenestrated (no window in outer left bay); larger windows with segmental-pedimented dormers breaking eaves alternate with smaller windows at 2nd.

S ELEVATION OF MAIN BLOCK: almost symmetrical. Moulded cill band at 1st and 2nd floors. Slightly advanced gabled outer blocks; right block ashlar to ground floor, with 2 segmental-headed windows; 3 windows to 1st floor, and key-blocked oeil-de boeuf window in gable; that to left bull-faced orange sandstone with 1 polychrome segmental-arched window off-set to right at ground floor, single windows off-set to right at 1st and 2nd. Entrances in outer bays of 3-storey flat-roofed advanced blocks clasping T-wing; modern glazed doors with segmental-arched fanlights in key-blocked ashlar doorpieces with broken-base consoled segmental pediments; segmental-headed windows in inner bays to ground floor; single windows to 1st floor, bipartites to 2nd. Flat-roofed blocks to outside of entrance bays (single storey at left, 3-storey to right) with small bipartites to ground floor; small bipartites in ashlar strips to 1st and 2nd floors of right bay. 4 intervening bays (3 to right) recessed; ashlar to 2nd floor; polychrome segmental-headed windows to ground, single windows to 1st; bipartites to 2nd floor.

S ELEVATION OF T WING: paired gabled blocks; window to right at ground floor. 4-bay extension (door in centre bay, window with pedimented gable breaking eaves above) adjoins ground floor of left block; 1st floor regularly fenestrated; tall window with segmental pediment to 2nd floor of each gabled block, flanked by smaller windows.

W ELEVATION OF T WING: lower 2-storey mansard-roofed wing adjoins W elevation; ashlar canted bay to ground, Serliana to 1st floor.

Predominantly 18-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Greenish slates. Stone skews. Cast-iron down pipes with decorative hoppers. Tall corniced orange bull-faced sandstone stacks (some rebuilt) with circular cans at wallheads and ridges.

BOUNDARY WALL, RAILINGS AND GATES: low boundary wall with cast-iron railings. Decorative cast-iron gates. Tall ashlar gatepiers with decorative caps.

Statement of Special Interest

Built as Boroughmuir School, one of the new Higher Grade (Science) schools, the school became James Gillespies in 1913 when the new Boroughmuir was opened. After the new Gillespie's was opened it became Boroughmuir Junior School. The building is now University of Edinburgh residences (2015).

Listed building record and statutory address updated (2015). Previously listed as '22-24 Warrender Park Crescent, former Boroughmuir School, including boundary wall, railings and gatepiers'.

References

Bibliography

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore.html CANMORE ID 126793

Design exhibited RSA 1903.

Gifford, J. McWilliam, C. and Walker, D. (1988) The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh. London: Penguin Books. p. 495.

Easton, D. (ed.) (1988) By the three great roads: a history of Tollcross, Fountainbridge and the West Port. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press. p. 94.

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.