South Craig House, Craighouse Road, Edinburgh

South Craig House, Craighouse Road, Edinburgh

This is a Grade A listed building comprising a hospital complex designed by Sydney Mitchell based on sketch designs by Dr Clouston, the physician superintendent. Designed in 1887, construction began in 1889, with the eastern half of the main building and associated hospital and three villas completed by 1894.

The buildings are executed in Free Renaissance style, combining influences from French architecture of the François Premier to Henri Quatre periods, alongside the manner of Nesfield-Champneys and Anderson & Browne. They are constructed of red coursers with biscuit-coloured dressings, feature small-paned windows throughout, and are roofed in green slates.

Main Building

The main building presents a spectacular towered and gabled picturesque composition approximately 375 feet long, set on a steeply sloping site. It follows a complex E-shaped plan with courtyards open to the south and a north projection forming a north-east entrance forecourt. The composition comprises two approximately symmetrical blocks of irregular L-plan, mainly three storeys tall with dormerheads and basements. Oblong towers with timber cupolas rise a storey higher at angles, housing wards, bedrooms, and public rooms, stepped across the slope on either side of a high central north-south hall block with flanking staircases. The western staircase rises as a massive square eight-storey tower, 32 feet square and 100 feet high, with a corbelled angle turret top at the north-east, a three-bay arcaded top stage, and a platformed roof with balustraded parapet. A two-storey drawing and billiard room projects from the centre of the hall block's south front. A two-storey wing with basements occupies the centre of the north front, terminating with a pyramid-roofed engineers' pavilion at the north end beyond the driveway. The north-east re-entrant angle contains a porch diagonally set, with Roman Doric pilastered treatment and distyle in antis arrangement on the flank.

The external detailing is of rich and varied refinement. Ogee-roofed circular towers of François Premier derivation with pilastered windows occupy the north angles of the ward blocks (two on the north-west, one at the north-east), embellished with fluted pilastered friezes. Two further towers of similar design occupy the angles of the south wing, all with bell roofs carried up into timber cupolas. Roof treatments vary: some are French pavilioned, others feature rich and varied shaped gable designs, particularly at the hall block and south wing, which include armorial panels and several shell-headed niches. Tall French chimney stacks feature semi-circular divisions between flues instead of pots.

The interior contains outstanding work, notably the grand staircase leading to a central pilastered six-bay great hall measuring 63 feet by 33 feet by 45 feet high. The hall is lit by clerestory windows in an arched ceiling and a large Venetian window in the north gable. Chimneypieces occupy recesses, and a balcony for musicians overlooks the space. The interior is panelled in oak to a height of 12 feet, with rich original decorative wall treatment largely surviving.

Queens Clinic

The Queens Clinic comprises a main block of two storeys and attic with pavilion roof and tall stacks. The north frontage features an off-centre semi-circular pedimented section three windows wide, with windows linked by ashlar apron panels. To the left are three windows with ground-floor pediments, whilst to the right stands a single pedimented ground-floor window. An octagonal north-west corner bay with spired roof marks the western end. A long low single-storey wing extends to the east with piended roofs and ogee-roofed timber cupolas, a turret occupying the stepped north-east angle. Canted bay features appear on the south elevation. The clinic is sited on the axis of the main building, effectively extending the composition uphill to the west, though separated by two driveways.

East Hospital

The East Hospital is of cottage hospital type, with the eastern part single-storey beneath a mansard attic. The east front comprises two windows and a centre door, with pedimented stone dormers centred above the windows. The western wing is low and without attic. A sun-lounge occupies the south front, though somewhat altered.

Bevan Villa

Bevan Villa is two storeys with dormerheads, basement, and attic within a high French pavilion roof, effectively sited on high rising ground. The symmetrical east front features a pedimented tripartite doorpiece approached by a branched perron with elaborate wrought-iron work, with a pedimented dormer-head window above framed by two tall stacks adjacent to octagonal corner bays with spired roofs. The flanks and rear are asymmetrical, with a further octagonal corner tower at the south-west.

South Craig Villa

South Craig Villa is two to three storeys in the fall of the ground, effectively sited on high ground with a balustraded terrace on a high retaining wall along greater part of its east flank. The entrance is a pedimented doorpiece approached by a stair with wrought-iron work. A semi-circular stair turret projects from the centre of the flank immediately to the north. The south-west projection ends in two octagonal corner bays. The north gable is recessed at the north-east corner and filled by a lower flat-roofed section. Canted bays feature at the south end of the west flank and to the west.

Lodge

The lodge is single-storey with attic, featuring a bargeboarded gable front with single-storey canted bay and the slope of the main roof extended over a semi-elliptically arched footgate. A shaped gable with rolled skewputts marks the drive. Gatepiers are banded with flambeaux finials and acanthus bases, accompanied by wrought-iron railings and gates.