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Summary

Description

Arthur George Sydney Mitchell and George Wilson, 1898. 4-storey and attic free Scots Renaissance corner block; 5 bays to High Street, 2 to North Bridge treated similarly; 3 corner turret bays with copper ogee roofs and tall finials. 1st floor canted mullioned and transomed oriels; 2nd floor giant recessed keyblocked arches carved with grotesque animal heads; paired segmental-arched 3rd floor windows; projecting, bracketed and crenellated parapets. Corner stop-chamfered entrance bay with 2-leaf timber panelled door and border-glazed fanlight; blank scrolled cartouche in chamfer; carved panels to frieze. Polished cream coursed ashlar; pink granite facing at ground and at corner entrance bay. Base course; string courses at each floor. Bull-faced red ashlar to rear; polished margins; white glazed brick to Carrubber's Close.

S (HIGH STREET) ELEVATION: 2-bay basement level to left; rectangular triple key-blocked ground bays (3 as mezzanine shop-fronts; pink granite surrounds); keyblocked carriage arch to Carrubber's Close at outer right. Carved masks between bays at 1st floor cill course; blank carved cartouches above 1st floor bays; thistles carved at base of principal turret. Aediculed dormers with triangular-pedimented dormerheads containing broken-segmental pediments.

W (NORTH BRIDGE) ELEVATION: gable all as N elevation but no dormers. Aediculed stack; segmental pediment broken by pinnacle projecting beyond stack.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: advancing stepped bays from outer left.

E ELEVATION: plain, rendered; faces aerial gap site.

Modern glazed shop fronts at ground; some original 24-pane timber casements at ground. 1st and 2nd floors modern metal-framed and uPVC casements; 3rd floor timber sash and case; 12-pane dormer and turret glazing appear original. Grey slate pitched roof; corniced end stacks; large corniced apex stack; large corniced stack to rear, no cans. Decorative cast iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: modern refurbished interior.

Statement of Special Interest

A-group with 3-29 North Bridge, Carlton Hotel; 25-52 North Bridge, including Scotsman Hotel, Scotsman Steps, Royal Mile Mansions; 175 and 177 High Street; and 65-71 Cockburn Street (see separate listings). Designed for the Commercial Bank and to conform to the winning competition scheme by John Nichol Scott and James Anderson Williamson, 1896, for the redevelopment of the entire North Bridge area. This was intended to improve railway access to the city and began with the widening of the bridge in 1894-7 by Cunningham, Blyth & Westland. The mediaeval closes Halkerston's Wynd and Kinloch's Close were demolished to make way for the buildings on the east side of the street. Carrubber's Close remains enclosing the rear of the blocks. Scott and Williamson's plans were followed in outline only and the resultant group of buildings are united by their architectural vocabulary. Mitchell & Wilson's building, however, is superior in composition and detail to William Hamilton Beattie's adjoining buildings for the Carlton Hotel towards the north. The ground floor is still in use by the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Carlton Hotel now occupies the upper floors. The building was stone-cleaned and repaired circa 2001.

References

Bibliography

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