Caretaker's Lodge, Craiglockhart Primary School, Ashley Terrace, Edinburgh

Caretaker's Lodge at Craiglockhart Primary School, Ashley Terrace, Edinburgh

This is a Grade B listed building comprising a primary school, caretaker's lodge, associated structures, and boundary treatments, designed by Robert Wilson and John Alexander Carfrae in 1901 for the Edinburgh School Board.

The primary school is a large, symmetrical 3-storey double pile structure with gabled roofline and inventive Renaissance detailing throughout. It is constructed of squared and snecked cream sandstone with ashlar dressings. An octagonal Renaissance timber cupola bellcote marks the centre of the building.

The north-east elevation facing Ashley Terrace presents a near-symmetrical 3-storey 17-bay facade. The ground falls slightly to the north. The central 11 bays are divided by astylar pilasters and feature tall bipartite windows at ground floor with moulded cill courses; 1st floor windows are rounded-headed keystoned bipartites; 2nd floor windows are small with Gibbsian surrounds. A moulded string course runs above the 1st floor. Flanking this central section on both sides are 3 bays advanced with pedimented gableheads containing oculi. These bays contain tall single windows at ground and 1st floor levels, and at 2nd floor tripartite windows arcaded with Ionic columns and flanked by Ionic pilasters. Beyond these, to both north and south, are recessed 2-bay links connecting to single bay gabled end pavilions with large stone finials flanking each gable. The links are advanced at ground level with entrances in the outer bays. Each entrance comprises a 2-leaf door with round-headed panels and rectangular 8-pane fanlight, surrounded by ashlar with 3/4 engaged Ionic columns supporting an open pediment containing an 'education' plaque in roundel (the north entrance serves the boys' section with forestairs and wrought iron railings; the south serves the girls' section). A solid parapet with balustrade sits above the inner bay. Tripartite windows light the inner bays (single at ground to the north); single windows serve the outer bays with a cill course running at 2nd floor level. The pavilions contain tripartite windows to each floor, corniced at 2nd floor.

The south-east elevation features a central, slightly advanced 2-bay gabled section with bipartite windows to each floor. A modern flat-roofed single storey building is attached at ground level, masking the left bay. To the right the wall is blank with a wallhead stack abutting the gable. To the left a single window appears at 1st and 2nd floor levels close to the gable; the 2nd floor window breaks the eaves with a round-headed pedimented dormerhead.

The south-west elevation facing Ashley Grove is a plain 3-storey 21-bay symmetrical facade with single windows to each bay of each floor and a moulded string course above the 1st floor. The central section of 5 bays includes dormerheads with bowed cornices in the 2nd and 4th bays, with a wallhead stack to the right of centre. This is flanked by slightly advanced 3-bay gabled sections with a taller 2nd floor containing a blind oculus in each gable and finials as described above. These in turn are flanked by 3 recessed bays with the central bay dormerheaded. Outer 4-bay sections lower in height and gabled with finials at the outer corners feature bipartite windows at ground and 1st floor (with a basement to the north containing a single window). A single storey flat-roofed addition stands at the north end.

The north-west elevation comprises 3 bays grouped to the centre. Two bays at the centre have bipartite windows and a gable, with a bay to the right containing single windows and a 2nd floor window breaking the eaves with a round-headed dormerhead. A wallhead stack stands at the far left, and a modern addition at ground level masks the two right-hand bays.

Throughout the building, multi-pane timber sash and case glazing is employed. The roof is essentially M-pitched with many subsidiary gables and massive skylights lighting the art rooms in the attic. Green slates are used throughout. Wallhead stacks have plain ashlar copes. Ashlar skews beak to flat skewputts, some terminated with finials or dwarf pyramidal-capped piers. Cast-iron rainwater goods run throughout, with the gutter to the centre of the entrance front cast with thistles.

The Caretaker's Lodge is a 2-storey slightly asymmetrical gabled structure using materials matching the school. The south-east entrance elevation comprises 3 bays with a door at the centre having a 3-pane letterbox fanlight and open pediment above, and a small bipartite window under moulded eaves. A single window stands to the right at ground, with a narrow bathroom window to the left. The north elevation is gabled and features a bipartite window to each floor with a semicircular hoodmould in the gable above the 1st floor window. The north-west elevation is blank save for a broad wallhead stack at the centre. The south-west elevation is gabled with a window to the left and narrow window to the right at ground level, and a single window at centre above. Glazing, skews and slates match those of the main school building.

A playshed stands to the north of the school, adjacent to the Caretaker's Lodge. It features a stone wall to the north built up from the boundary wall, with south and west sides open and roofed by a structure supported on cast-iron columns; the east end is enclosed and lit by skylights. A piended slate roof covers the structure.

The gates, gatepiers and boundary walls comprise 4 sets of gates with square piers on plinths featuring fielded round-headed panels and dentilled cornices (those to the south-west having missing cornices). Decorative wrought-iron gates are fitted to all sets. A dwarf boundary wall with ashlar coping and simple iron railings completes the boundary treatment.