Statement of Special Interest
36-37 Buccleuch Place and 16-26 Buccleuch Street are good examples of later 19th century tenements because they complete a later 18th century urban planning scheme by the prominent architect James Brown. Their pared back classical design and proportions is in keeping with the late 18th and early 19th century tenements on Buccleuch Place, and together the scale of these tenements on an unusually wide street for this part of Edinburgh, form an imposing street elevation of some pretension, which has not been significantly altered.
Age and Rarity
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 most of the tenements are understood to date from 1780 onwards.
A building on this corner site of Buccleuch Place and Buccleuch Street was always intended as part of Brown's scheme as the feu is shown on his plan, however Gifford et al in their book, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, date these tenements to 1872-3. These tenements are first shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1877, although confusingly a number of maps from 1823 onwards, which are titled 'intended improvements' depict the rough footprint of these corner tenements. The Ordnance Survey Map of 1852 shows the Buccleuch Free Church on this corner site, and this church moved to its present location at West Crosscauseway when its current church was built in 1856.
This part of Edinburgh became the main centre of the city, preceding the New Town, as it was Brown's development that drew aristocratic and wealthy families from their cramped houses in the Old Town. This is shown by the number of notable personalities living in George Square and Buccleuch Place in the late 18th and early 19th century. 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. 36-37 Buccleuch Place and 16-26 Buccleuch Street has remained as domestic flats.
Tenement buildings are a common building type within Scottish cities with many surviving examples from the later 18th and early 19th century, which were built as part of urban expansion. Whilst significantly later in date than the other properties of Buccleuch Place, 36-37 Buccleuch Place and 16-26 Buccleuch Street
are good examples of their building type because they complete a later 18th century urban planning scheme by the prominent architect James Brown, and their pared back classical design of these tenements is in keeping with and therefore compliments the earlier tenements on Buccleuch Place.
Architectural or Historic Interest
Interior
The interior was not seen and has not been taken into account in this assessment.
Plan form
The buildings have not been extended and appear with largely the same footprint as that shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1877. In terms of plan form the buildings are not exceptional for their building type and there is no known special interest in this section.
Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality
These tenements are of high quality construction, built of finely jointed ashlar sandstone. For their later 19th century date these buildings do not have highly decorative stonework details, however their restrained classical design is appropriate to compliment the design of the earlier tenements on Buccleuch Place. 36-37 Buccleuch Place and 16-26 Buccleuch Street are slightly lower in height than its neighbouring tenements of 30-35 Buccleuch Place, which date from 1817-23; however, at 5 storeys 36-37 Buccleuch Place and 16-26 Buccleuch Street are still imposing in height.
Setting
At 800 feet long and 100 feet broad, Gifford et al, in The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, describes Buccleuch Place as "the grandest street in the South Side" (Buildings of Scotland, p.250). As noted in the Age and Rarity section above Buccleuch Place was part of a larger scheme of housing development devised by Brown which stretched from Teviot Place in the north to the lanes behind Buccleuch Place at the south. From the mid 20th century some redevelopment in the area has occurred by the University, which has included the loss of houses to George Square and some of the tenements to the north side of Buccleuch Place. However, the relationship between the surviving buildings of Brown's scheme is still visible and whilst later in date 36-37 Buccleuch Place and 16-26 Buccleuch Street are an important component completing this later 18th century urban planning scheme.
Buccleuch Street is set within the South Side Conservation area. Ross Park from which it was developed was one of several estates approximately covered by this conservation area which were feued for tenements and terrace houses in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Regional variations
There are no known regional variations.
Close Historical Associations
There are no known associations with a nationally significant person or event.
Statutory address, listed building record revised and category changed from B to C in 2015 as part of the University of Edinburgh Estate Review. Previously listed as 'Buccleuch Place 36, 37 and 16-26 Buccleuch Street'.