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Summary

Description

Circa 1790. Tall, 5-storey and attic, 10 x 15-bay Classical tenement building with commercial premises to ground. Ashlar with raised cills. Band courses, cornice. Round arched openings at 5 Nicolson Street and 5 South College Street with timber panelled entrance doors and semi-circular fanlight glazing above. Piended dormers, alternately with sidelights.

East elevation to Nicolson Street: off-centre entrance door to flats with flanking shopfronts with timber fascias, recessed entrance doors, timber pilasters, mullions and cills; panelled stall risers. That to right with decorative semi-circular console brackets.

Shopfronts to South College Street with timber fascias, timber transoms and mullions and panelled stall risers.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows to upper storeys, plate glass to ground. Grey slates, coped gable stacks.

Statement of Special Interest

This large late 18th century corner tenement has significant streetscape value and survives with little external alteration to the upper storeys. It is a critical part of the expansion of the city in the late 18th century following the construction of the South Bridge. The tenement is notable for the high quality of its shop fronts. The Classical style minimal detailing is typical of Edinburgh tenements built in the late 18th century and it is a leading component in defining the character of the expanding city.

The first Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1849-53 shows this corner building as the Edinburgh Temperance Hotel. In 1851, No 3 Nicolson Street was a small linen merchants store belonging to Ross & Scott. By the end of the 19th century, this store had become Hugh Ross & Co and had expanded to premises occupying 3 storeys at Nos 1, 3 & 5 Nicolson Street and in South College Street. It was described in a late 19th century advertisement as a shop with good taste and refinement. The building continued to be a department store under a variety of owners, until 1968 when John D Blair & Son moved out. The upper storeys of the tenement have since been returned to flats (2007).

South College Street and this section of Nicolson Street date from the late 1790s, after the 1788 completion of the South Bridge (see separate listing). Built as a link between the Old Town and the developing Southern part of the city, the South Bridge improved access and communication. To the South of this tenement, part of Nicolson Street had already been developed on land belonging to Lady Nicolson, and her house and garden stood near this site, between Nicolson Street and the South Bridge. To make the link as straight as possible between the new South Bridge and the part of Nicolson Street already completed, it was necessary to demolish the house and this section of Nicolson Street was built. Roads were then formed between the bridge and the other parts of the town to the East and West.

List description revised as part of the Edinburgh Holyrood Ward resurvey 2007-08.

Statutory address updated (2015). Previously listed as '1-8 (inclusive nos) South College and 1-11 (odd nos) Nicolson Street'.

References

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