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Summary

Description

1690 (renovated 1956 by J Wilson Paterson, see Notes). 2-storey and basement, L-plan crow-stepped townhouse. Random-rubble with roughly squared ashlar dressings. Chamfered long and short margins. Raised platt at SE re-entrant angle with fore-stair and boundary wall forming courtyard. Main entrance to NW angle of raised courtyard; timber studded door with 6-pane glazed light above. Further doorway to S gable and to rear (N) leading to narrow exterior passage enclosed by boundary wall. Regular arrangement of fenestration to 5-bay W elevation.

INTERIOR: extensively reconstructed during 1950s. Seen at resurvey (2007/08).

Predominantly 15-pane glazing to timber sash and case windows with horns. Coped end stacks. Cast-iron rain water goods. Gas-lamp remnant at SE angle directly above adjoining boundary wall.

Statement of Special Interest

Panmure House is a fine survival of grander 17th century domestic architecture. Its intact exterior L-plan form is notable for its regularly arranged fenestration and raised platted courtyard at re-entrant angle leading to the main entrance. Formerly the grand town house of the Earls of Panmure, it later became the home of the renowned Scottish economist Adam Smith and retains a strong association with his name. Dunbar's Close Garden, a 1970s stepped garden designed in 17th-century style and following the line of a former 'toft' (see below), is located to the immediate W of Panmure. A metal plaque beside the main platted entrance reads 'This former town house of the Earls of Panmure and also of Adam Smith, author of 'The Wealth of Nations' who lived here 1778-90 was renovated in 1957 and presented by Roy Herbert Thomson Esq. Chairman of the 'Scotsman' publication Ltd to the Rev Ronald Selby Wright, D.D for the Canongate Boys' Club and was opened by H.R.H The Princess Royal, accompanied by his grace the Duke of Hamilton, K.T.'. Currently occupied by the Social Services Department of Edinburgh Council (2007). The historic and architectural value of Edinburgh's Canongate area as a whole can hardly be overstated. Embodying a spirit of permanence while constantly evolving, its buildings reflect the development of Scotland's political, religious and civic life. The Canons of Holyrood Abbey were given leave by King David I to found the burgh of Canongate in 1140. Either side of the street/volcanic ridge was divided into long, narrow strips of land or 'tofts'. By the end of the 15th century all the tofts were occupied, some subdivided into 'forelands' and 'backlands' under different ownership. Fuedal superiority over Canongate ceased after 1560. The following century was a period of wide-scale rebuilding and it was during this time that most of the areas' mansions and fine townhouses were constructed, usually towards the back of the tofts, away from the squalor of the main street. The 17th century also saw the amalgamation of the narrow plots and their redevelopment as courtyards surrounded by tenements. The burgh was formally incorporated into the City in 1856. Throughout the 19th Century the Canongate's prosperity declined as large sections of the nobility and middle classes moved out of the area in favour of the grandeur and improved facilities of Edinburgh's New Town. The Improvement Act of 1867 made efforts to address this, responding early on with large-scale slum clearance and redevelopment of entire street frontages. A further Improvement Act (1893) was in part a reaction to this 'maximum intervention', responding with a programme of relatively small-scale changes within the existing street pattern. This latter approach was more consistent with Patrick Geddes' concept of 'conservative surgery'. A renowned intellectual, Geddes, who lived in the Old Town, was a pioneer of the modern conservation movement in Scotland which gathered momentum throughout the 20th century. Extensive rebuilding and infilling of sections of the Canongate's many tenements took place, most notably by E J McRae (1930s) and Robert Hurd (1950s), with some early frontages retained and others rebuilt in replica. List description revised as part of Edinburgh Holyrood Ward resurvey, 2007/08. Minor correction to Statement of Special Interest in 2024.

References

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