3-10 Ramsay Garden, Edinburgh

A sophisticated residential building of 1733–4 (Ramsay Lodge) substantially redesigned and extended in 1893–4 by architects Arthur George Sydney Mitchell and George Wilson. The complex comprises a Grade A listed structure combining 18th century origins with late Victorian Arts and Crafts and Scottish vernacular detailing.

The building is planned as an asymmetrical U-shaped tenement of two storeys, basement and attic, arranged in three principal blocks (N, E and W) around Ramsay Court. The octagonal Ramsay Lodge of 1733–4 survives integrated within the N block. The construction employs squared and snecked stugged red sandstone with polished dressings, complemented by cream harl, pitched roofs with broad bracketed eaves, and red tile or green Abefoyle slate roofing.

The S elevation of the N block (facing Ramsay Court) features a pedimented centre bay with a projecting pitch-roofed porch containing a two-leaf timber door flanked by windows. Above stand two pilasters from the original Ramsay Lodge flanking a first-floor window, with a tripartite window to the jettied second floor beneath a pedimented gable. A bell-cast roofed square-plan stair tower with weathervane stands to the right, its three storeys marked by narrow tripartite stepped windows. To the left, a single pedimented dormer rises to the attic.

The N elevation displays a narrow swept-roofed three-storey harled bay to the outer left, with a glazed door at ground level, timber balcony to the first floor, and decorative cast-iron balcony to the second, surmounted by two swept dormers and additional small dormers to the attic. The centre reveals three facets of the original Ramsay Lodge, with buttresses visible, below a finialled pyramidal roof with small dormer. To the right stands an irregularly fenestrated three-storey harled block with swept roof and two swept dormers flanking small dormers to the attic.

The E block presents a three-storey, attic and basement elevation on Ramsay Court (W face). Red sandstone rises through basement, ground and first floors; harl covers the upper storeys. The fenestration is irregular. A broad wallhead stack corbels out at second floor at centre; stone steps and platts span the basement area below a timber-panelled door with fanlight. A splayed corner to the outer right displays timber dragons supporting a corbel above at second-floor level. Cast-iron railings protect the basement area.

The S elevation of the E block comprises two swept-gabled bays. Red sandstone covers ground and first floors, harl rises above. A chamfered corner to the left features timber dragons supporting the corner above. The third and fourth floors jet forward with small-pane-glazed windows. A red sandstone return to the E carries small windows at first and second floors.

The imposing N elevation of the E block projects as a gabled two-bay five-storey and attic block. Red sandstone appears at ground, first, second and third floors; harl covers above. Round-arched windows light the ground floor. Tall mullioned and transomed windows at first floor (containing the John Duncan room) sit beneath a cill band. Paired windows occupy the second floor; a cill band marks the third. An oriel rises at fourth floor, with glazing rising into the gable, where a terracotta cat sits at the apex. Two E-facing bays in the re-entrant angle feature a broad wallhead stack at centre and an engaged, finialled pyramidal-roofed corner tower.

The W block's E elevation (facing Ramsay Court) consists of a three-bay asymmetrically gabled block. Painted half-timbering appears in the boarded gable. Red-painted stone steps rise to a first-floor entrance to an ogee-roofed square-plan stair tower. Wrought-iron balustrades enclose balconies at second and third floors, accessed from the stair tower at right.

The W elevation of the W block slopes with the ground across five bays in cream harl with red-painted dressings and irregular fenestration. A narrow bay stands to the outer right. A gabled two-bay block, second from right, jets forward at third and fourth floors with an adjoining red sandstone chimney breast. A gabled five-storey and attic bay at centre carries an oriel at first, second, third and fourth floors, corbelling to square at attic level; bracketed balconies project to the left at second, third and fourth floors. A tall chimney breast to the left displays cill bands at each floor and a carved plaque at second-floor level. A six-stage engaged ogee-roofed circular-plan tower (red sandstone to ground, harled to sixth stage) stands to the outer left, with cill bands at each level.

The N elevation presents a projecting five-storey and attic asymmetrically gabled block. Red sandstone covers the ground floor; harl rises above. An oriel projects left at first floor; a balcony stands right. Quadripartite windows occupy second and third floors. The fourth floor jets forward. A small tripartite window in a boarded gable lights the attic. A pyramidal-roofed turret corbels out at second floor in the E re-entrant angle.

Interior detailing includes plaster stamps to stair-wall dadoes representing the lamp of wisdom, thistle and University Hall crest. The Common Room in the E block features extensive murals by John Duncan depicting scenes from Celtic mythology, Scottish history and scientific achievement: The Awakening of Cuchullin, the Combat of Fionn, the Taking of Excalibur, the Journey of St Mungo, and portraits of John Napier of Merchiston, James Watt, Walter Scott, Charles Darwin and Joseph Lister.

Throughout the building, small-pane glazing appears in timber sash-and-case and casement windows. Tall chimney stacks, some of red sandstone and some harled with tabbed red sandstone quoins, rise with circular cans.

The terrace, steps and gateway were designed by Robert Billings between 1857 and 1860.