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

113 WHITEHOUSE LOAN GILLIS COLLEGE RC CHAPELLB30664

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
14/12/1970
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 25103 71934
Coordinates
325103, 671934

Description

James Gillespie Graham, 1835; additions by Archibald Macpherson, 1893-5. Aisled neo-Norman chapel with later apsidal gothic E end. Squared coursed sandstone with polished dressings; grey slate of.

W END: symmetrical 3-bay; openings round-arched, roll-moulded and hoodmoulded. Steps up to doorway; panelled door. Tripartite window above. Corbelled stone fleche with swept pyramidal roof at apex. 2 angle buttresses with angle nook-shafts; polygonal stone finials with swept caps. Windows to aisle ends; polygonal angle buttresses with finials detailed as above.

NAVE AND AISLES: 4-bay. Deep-set round-arched windows to aisles and nave, with hoodmoulds and label-stops.

APSE AND LADY CHAPEL: 1893-5. Polygonal apse with full-height buttresses; vestry and polygonal stairtower adjoining to W; Lady Chapel adjoining to E. Traceried pointed arch windows to apse with hoodmoulds and label stops beneath parapet. Similarly detailed window to E Lady Chapel. INTERIOR: circular-section piers supporting 4-bay arcade between nave and aisles; saw-tooth details to cushion capitals and arches. Rib-vaulted plaster ceiling with decorative corbels and bosses. 2-bay chancel and 3 sided apse with stone rib-vaults and bosses to ceiling. Pointed arch panels behind elaborately traceried altarpiece; statues by William Vickers of Glasgow above panels. Lady Chapel reredos by George Goldie, executed by Thomas Earp, 1877. Decorative carved and stained arcaded rood screen, possibly part of original fittings, now removed to W end (stalls in similar style removed to St Mary's Cathedral). Silver lamp in chancel, designed by Gillespie Graham and executed by Cross & Carruthers of Elm Row, 1837. Painted Gothic casket containing relics of St Crescentia, by Bonar & carfare to designs by A W N Pugin, 1842. Crypt with tombs of John Menzies and Bishop Gillis. Stained glass, predominantly figures of saints ddating from late 19th century.

Statement of Special Interest

A-group with other Gillis College buildings. See listing of conventual buildings for extent of curtilage. Ecclesiastical building in use as such. St Margaret's was the first religious house tobe founded in Scotland since the Reformation. The Rev James Gillis acquired the Whitehouse property with the financial help of John Menzies of Pitfodels, Aberdeenshire, and the first Convent of the Ursulines of Jesus in Britain was founded on 26th December 1834. A W N Pugin may have had some involvement with the initial chapel scheme, but he certainly became involved with proposed alterations in 1846-7. At that time he designed a new arrangement of chancel windows, new clearstorey windows, elaborately decorated fittings and furnishings, and suggested painted decoration of the walls. In 1861 Pugin's eldest son, Edward Welby Pugin, proposed a grand formal quadrangle incorporating the chapel (see separate listing of former school).

References

Bibliography

J G Graham, pen and brown ink perspective (not as built), on display in Gillis College; J Grant Old and New Edinburgh, Vol III (1882), p45; Anon A History of St Margaret's Convent (1886); H Colvin Biographical Dictionary of British Architects (1978), pp355-357; C J Smith Historic South Edinburgh Vol 1 (1978), pp44-48; J Macaulay "The architectural collaboration between J Gillespie Graham and A W Pugin" in Architectural History Vol 27 (1984), p409; Gifford et al. Edinburgh (1984), pp594-595; M Cant Marchmont in Edinburgh (1984), pp87-94; P J Kerr (ed) Commemorative Booklet for the Opening of Gillis College (1986).

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.

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