Laundry, The Bush House, Bush Estate

The Laundry House forms part of the wider Bush House estate complex, which includes the main house, stables, courtyard, boundary walls, gatepiers and gates. The main house dates from around 1750, was re-oriented and remodelled in 1795 partly to earlier plans by Robert and James Adam drawn up in 1791, and was further remodelled in 1895 by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, who raised the roof pitch and added a northwest extension.

The main house is a two-storey, irregular-plan classical country house built in squared and coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings. It has base, cill and dividing band courses, and an eaves cornice.

The principal (southeast) elevation has 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. A pair of Doric columns flanks single windows to the left and right, with a cornice and balustrade above and single windows to the first-floor bow. Venetian windows set in recessed round-arched panels appear at ground floor in the outer left and right bays, with single windows above at first floor. A former stable court is recessed to the outer right.

The northeast (side) elevation is two storeys and five bays, with three bays projecting to the left. 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. There is a blocked window at first-floor right. This elevation adjoins the Adam Office Wing at ground-floor right.

The northwest (rear) elevation is L-shaped, incorporating the rear of both the 1795 and 1895 extensions. The main house section is two storeys with an attic and three bays, with regular fenestration, a six-panel replacement door at 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 at ground-floor left, three wooden attic dormers, and modern replacement guttering.

The southwest (side) elevation is two storeys with attic dormers. To the right is the original five-bay house, with a central three-bay block featuring scroll-pedimented dormers aligned to the centre, a projecting single-storey bay window with 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. There is a hipped slate roof and a ten-can chimney stack at the angles. To the left is a three-bay 1894 extension with regular fenestration, hoodmoulded windows, three scroll-pedimented dormers, and a four-can chimney stack to the right. The left return has a blind wall with a wallhead chimney of four cans and a piended roof, with a courtyard wall adjoining. Windows throughout are 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.

The interior contains three fireplaces brought from the now-demolished Dryden House: one marble and two in Adam-style timber and composition. There is 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, a mahogany handrail, and a large plaster ceiling rose in the main stairwell.

The Adam Office Wing adjoins the main house to the right. It is single storey and five bays, with twelve-pane sash and case windows to the first three bays and eight-pane windows to the remainder. There is a projecting square end bay to the right with a pedimented nine-pane sash window with scroll supports and timber infill to the top of the sash. A part-matching bay adjoins the main house to the left. The wing has a low parapet with modern guttering and downpipes.

The Stables were designed by Robert and James Adam around 1795. They are L-shaped and single storey, with a coach block whose roof was replaced around 1870, and later infilled arches. The west range has an infilled central arch with a modern door and triangular pediment; to the left are a door and two windows (previously doors), and to the right are three windows and two doors, with modern replacement guttering. At the rear there is regular fenestration, a through-passage door, an abutting single-storey range with timber and glazed infill to the cart openings, a piended slate roof, and an adjoining lean-to garage on the wall of an earlier structure with stone ball finials at either end, a window to the right return, and a corrugated modern roof. The north range has a central coach house with triple glazed infilled arches, pilasters between them, 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 another three-bay section. At the rear of the north range, the central coach house has a partly obscured infilled single arch with a window to each flank and a string course; there are second-storey windows to each side, a square parapet facade with a moulded inset plaque and triangular pediment, a central chimney stack with two cans, a modern boiler room block extension to the arch infill, and three-bay sections to the flanks.

The Laundry House stands adjacent to the west range of the stables. It is two storeys and two bays, built in coursed rubble with skew gables.

The east elevation has a central six-panel door with a plain rectangular fanlight and a single window to each flank. The first floor has three bays at eaves level, with the Latin inscription PRETIO PRUDENTIA inscribed on a stone under the central bay lintel. The north elevation adjoins the stable courtyard. The west elevation is two storeys and three bays, with a central glazed door, single windows to the flanks, and projecting surrounds. The south elevation is a gable end of a 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, each with three cans. Rainwater goods have been replaced in plastic.

Adjoining the Laundry House and main house is a wall and gate arrangement comprising broken coursed ashlar walling, round gatepiers with conical caps, decorative double wrought-iron gates, and an inset marble memorial plaque to the exterior. The Laundry House is listed as part of a group with the Former Gardener's Cottage, gatepiers and screen walls.

The estate was originally known as the Haggs and was prone to poor drainage. It was owned by the Moubrays between 1722 and 1746, and a map of 1745 shows the policies as one of the few planted areas in Midlothian. Archibald Trotter married Jean Moubray, and Bush House was built on the site of an older farmhouse, though the building as originally constructed differed greatly from what survives today. His son Robert Trotter (1749–1807) extended and improved the Bush, commissioning 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, the main staircase, a stable block and an office wing were all added at a cost of £3,800. The original plans still exist in the Soane Museum. In 1894–5, Alexander E C Trotter commissioned Sir Robert Rowand Anderson to make the pitch of the roof steeper, 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; interior features were also improved at this time. The Trotter family also owned Dryden House, which had become uninhabitable by 1848; from it they salvaged grand fireplaces for the principal rooms, tiles for the hall floor, and stair balusters which were reused as library bookshelves. The Trotters owned the Bush until the mid-20th century, after which the policies were used by the Edinburgh Centre of Rural Economy and subsequently acquired a number of newly built structures. The Bush is now the headquarters of the Electrical Contractors Association of Scotland. The 1868 walled garden still exists 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.