Former bonded warehouse, 15 Duke Street

Former Bonded Warehouse, 15 Duke Street

This is a two-storey former bonded warehouse with an attic, built between 1795 and 1804. It is one of the oldest surviving warehouses in Leith. The building was constructed for John and Robert Cockburn, renowned Edinburgh wine merchants who founded Cockburn's of Leith in 1796, and 15 Duke Street was their first premises and warehouse.

The building is rectangular on plan with a single piended slate roof. The walls are largely squared rubble construction roughly brought to courses, with dressed quoins and architraves. A two-storey, two-bay addition fronting Duke Street dates from the mid-19th century, likely around 1852, and probably functioned as offices to the bonded warehouse.

The narrow main elevation to Duke Street is symmetrically arranged. The walls are tooled ashlar sandstone (painted) with a continuous cill course, a moulded eaves cornice and a blocking course to the parapet. A modern metal security door is present, and all other openings are boarded-up. The side elevation to the east has a single door opening and traces of a former forestair are evident in the wall. The stonework is painted but matches that of the adjoining warehouse to the north.

The main east elevation of the warehouse projects slightly and comprises approximately seven bays. The openings have flush margins with droved tails. Towards the centre is a former loading door with a pedimented roof breaking the eaves. This door retains its timber loading arm and metal hook. Most openings are now blocked and no glazing or window frames remain. Traces of a former forestair and ground floor abutments are evident in the wall fabric. There is potential that some roof trusses may be contemporary with either the early phase of construction (1795-1804) or the second phase, though this could not be determined.

The interior has been largely stripped of historic fabric, with exposed rubble walls throughout. Later timber and brick partitions, bracing and floor structures are evident from alterations to the layout. Evidence of earlier floor structures is visible in the wall fabric, and a timber panelled door or shutter remains to the ground floor of the Duke Street elevation.

A single freestanding gate pier stands to the right of the main elevation on Duke Street. It is built of coursed and painted ashlar stone with a pyramidal cap. Replacement metal gates lead to a vehicular and pedestrian entrance to a cobbled courtyard with granite setts. The yard is enclosed by a high rubble wall to the north and by the rear elevations of tenements on Academy Street to the east.

A single-storey rectangular-plan outbuilding is located at the northern part of the yard. It is built of squared and coursed sandstone with droved ashlar surrounds to the large opening on its west elevation. The roof is flat with an ashlar parapet.

The site was undeveloped in 1751 according to Cooper's Plan of the City of Edinburgh. Aitchison's map of 1795 shows some development in the area but nothing reflecting the current form. The warehouse building first appears on Ainslie's map of 1804, although shown as extending further north than its current form, with an earlier frontage towards the south at the Duke Street end.

Kirkwood's plan of 1817 shows the warehouse set back from Duke Street with no block fronting Duke Street to the south. A square-plan building abutted to the north, in what is now a vacant plot; this may have once formed part of the bonded warehouse but this remains unclear. It was shown as a separate building by the Ordnance Survey map of 1914.

By the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1853, the present two-storey extension block had been added to the south, in line with Duke Street. Stairs shown on the eastern elevation indicate direct access to the upper floor from either the warehouse courtyard or the street. Ancillary structures and a wall were also shown at the north end of the courtyard, separating it from that to the north. An earlier development to the west appears to have been replaced by a large rectangular building adjoining the western elevation of 15 Duke Street.

The 1876 Ordnance Survey Town Plan shows minor additions to the east elevation of the warehouse and some changes to ancillary buildings to the north. The 1895 Ordnance Survey Town Plan identifies 15 Duke Street as Bonded Stores and illustrates a crane to the north of the courtyard, just south of the outbuilding. The building adjoining to the north of the warehouse appears to be in separate ownership by this time, accessed via a pend on Morton Street. Later maps show little change. By the Ordnance Survey map of 1914, buildings to the west had been replaced by the Picture Palace cinema. The Ordnance Survey National Grid map of 1946 showed no change to the building's footprint.

By the mid-1980s, the building was no longer in use as a warehouse. In the 1990s it was in use as a public house, known as 'Skivvy's' or 'Skivvies'. The building has been vacant since the late 20th century. Since 2002 various planning permissions have been sought for conversion of the building but have largely been refused. The property is currently vacant and in a derelict condition as of 2023. It is located at the western end of Duke Street, close to the foot of Leith Walk in the northeast of Edinburgh.

The interiors are excluded from the listing in accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.