The Bush House And Adam Office Wing, Bush Estate

Bush House is a two-storey, irregular-plan classical country house of squared and coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings, originating around 1750. It was re-orientated and substantially remodelled in 1795, partly following earlier plans drawn up by Robert and James Adam in 1791, and further remodelled in 1895 by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, who raised the pitch of the roof and added a northwest extension. The building features base, cill and dividing band courses, and an eaves cornice throughout.

PRINCIPAL (SOUTHEAST) ELEVATION Three bays with a central bow. The central doorway has an architrave and pediment, a two-leaf panelled door, and glazed two-leaf vestibule doors behind. Pairs of Doric columns flank single windows to the left and right of the bow, with a cornice and balustrade above and single windows to the first floor of the bow itself. Venetian windows, set within recessed round-arched panels, occupy the outer left and right bays at ground floor level, with single windows above at first floor. The former stable court is recessed to the outer right.

NORTHEAST (SIDE) ELEVATION Two storeys, five bays, with the three left-hand bays projecting forward. To the right is a pilastered stone door surround with cornice and lintel, a half-glazed door with matching sidelights, and a semi-circular fanlight, with windows to the side and above and a blocked window to the first floor right. This elevation adjoins the Adam Office Wing at ground floor right.

NORTHWEST (REAR) ELEVATION The rear is L-plan, incorporating the back sections of both the 1795 and 1895 extensions. The main house portion is two storeys with an attic and three bays: regular fenestration, a six-panel replacement door to the bottom left, an original porch pilaster to the right (and on the left wall beside the door), an adjacent window and one above, paired windows to the right, and pedimented stone attic dormers to bays one and three. The 1795 extension to the left is single storey and three bays, with a modern glass-and-stone hexagonal extension abutting it and a ventilation dome to the roof. The 1895 extension to the right has irregular four-bay fenestration, a door to the ground floor left, three wooden attic dormers, and modern replacement guttering.

SOUTHWEST (SIDE) ELEVATION Two storeys with attic dormers. To the right is the original five-bay house: the central three-bay block has scroll-pedimented dormers aligned to its bays, with a projecting single-storey bay window to the centre containing three twelve-pane lights and a balustraded top, and projecting square end bays each with a twelve-pane sash window, a six-pane window with string course directly above, and a twelve-pane sash above that. The roof is hipped slate with ten-can chimney stacks to the angles. To the left is the three-bay 1894 extension with regular fenestration, hoodmoulded windows, three scroll-pedimented dormers, and a four-can chimney stack to the right; to the left return is a blind wall with a wallhead chimney of four cans and a piended roof, with a courtyard wall adjoining.

Windows throughout are predominantly twelve-pane wooden sash and case, though some are eight-pane. The roof is piended slate, platformed on top, with a chimney stack to the middle.

INTERIOR The principal rooms contain three fireplaces salvaged from Dryden House (now demolished): one marble and two in Adam-style timber and composition. Other interior features include timber panelling in the corridors, heavy mahogany door surrounds, ornate cornicing to the principal rooms, a decorative cornice and gilt pelmets in the upper bay room, open diamond metalwork balusters with a mahogany handrail on the main staircase, and a large plaster ceiling rose in the main stairwell.

ADAM OFFICE WING Single storey, five bays, to the right of the main house. The first three bays have twelve-pane sash and case windows; the remainder have eight-pane. There is a projecting square end bay to the right with a pedimented nine-pane sash window on scroll supports and timber infill above the sash. A part-matching bay to the left adjoins the main house. The parapet is low, with modern guttering and downpipes.

STABLES AND COURTYARD Designed by Robert and James Adam, circa 1795. The stables are L-plan and single storey, with a coach block whose roof was replaced around 1870; the arches have been later infilled.

West range: the central arch has been infilled with a modern door under a triangular pediment. To the left are a door and two windows (previously doors); to the right are three windows and two doors, with modern replacement guttering. To the rear: regular fenestration, a through-passage door, and an abutting single-storey range with timber-and-glazed infill to the cart openings and a piended slate roof. An adjoining lean-to garage sits against the wall of an earlier structure, with stone ball finials to either end; to the right return is a window, with a corrugated modern roof above.

North range: the central coach house has triple glazed infilled arches with pilasters between, a string course, triangular pediment, inset round clock, and weathervane. To the left is a three-bay section with a central door; to the right is a further three-bay section. To the rear of the central coach house, a single arch is partly obscured by infill, with a window to each flank and a string course; second-storey windows sit to each side. The square parapet facade has a moulded inset plaque and triangular pediment, with a central chimney stack of two cans. A modern boiler room block has been added as an extension to the arch infill, with three-bay sections to the flanks.

LAUNDRY HOUSE Adjacent to the west range of the stables. Two storeys, two bays, in coursed rubble with skew gables.

East elevation: a central six-panel door with plain rectangular fanlight, and a single window to each flank; three bays at first floor to eaves level, with a stone inscribed under the central bay lintel reading PRETIO PRUDENTIA.

North elevation: adjoining the stable courtyard.

West elevation: two storeys, three bays; a central glazed door with single windows to the flanks and projecting surrounds.

South elevation: gable end, single bay, with infilled windows and carved projecting stone surrounds.

Windows are twelve-pane timber sash and case. The roof is piended slate with stacks to the gables carrying three cans each. Rainwater goods are replacement plastic.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATES A broken-coursed ashlar wall with round gatepiers carrying conical caps, decorative double wrought-iron gates, and an inset marble memorial plaque to the exterior. This group is listed alongside the Former Gardener's Cottage, Gatepiers and Screen Walls.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT The site was originally known as the Haggs and suffered from poor drainage. It was owned by the Moubray family from 1722 to 1746, and a 1745 map shows the policies as one of the few planted areas in Midlothian. Archibald Trotter married Jean Moubray, and Bush House was subsequently built on the site of the older farmhouse, though the building then was greatly different from what survives today. His son Robert Trotter (1749–1807) extended and improved the Bush, engaging Robert and James Adam to draw up plans. Although these were not followed exactly, a new dining room and drawing room, a semi-circular open porch, main staircase, stable block, and office wing were added at a cost of £3,800. The original Adam plans survive in the Soane Museum. In 1894–5, Alexander E. C. Trotter commissioned Sir Robert Rowand Anderson to steepen the pitch of the roof, enclose the porch, add a bay window to the morning room, and build a bedrooms-and-billiard-room extension to the northwest end of the house, with interior features also improved at this time. The Trotter family also owned Dryden House, which had become uninhabitable in 1848; from it they salvaged the grand fireplaces now in the principal rooms, the tiles for the hall floor, and the stair balusters, which were reused as library bookshelves. The Trotters retained ownership of the Bush until the mid-20th century, after which the policies were taken over by the Edinburgh Centre of Rural Economy and a number of new structures were added to the grounds. The house is now the headquarters of the Electrical Contractors Association of Scotland. The 1868 walled garden survives to the rear, and the grounds retain planned landscape features including wooded areas and the Pine Garden to the northeast of the house, with its serpentine lake.