Exterior view from the south west. Digital image of B 38661.

Description Exterior view from the south west. Digital image of B 38661.

Date c. 1950 to 1960

Collection Papers of George Hay, architect, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 774393

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 38661

Scope and Content Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh, from the south This shows the south flank of the house, with a porte-cochère (porch large enough for a coach to pass under) built on raised ground on the left. This conceals the basement level of the house where the servants lived and worked. The main house is three-storeyed, has curvilinear gables and a balustrade to its main façade (left), dormer windows on its roof, and strapwork buckle quoins (decorated edging stones) at the angles. The ground floor of the c.1830 curved block to the rear of the house (right) contained some of the servants' accommodation (other servants may have slept in the attics), as well as a bathroom, kitchen, staff room, coal cellar, lined room, scullery and larder. Most country houses designers placed staff accommodation and service areas in the basements and attics out of sight of the landowner, his family and guests. Prestonfield House was rebuilt for Sir James Dick in 1687 by the architect Sir William Bruce (c.1630-1710) after being burnt down during a student riot in 1681. A single-storeyed extension was added in c.1830, and in 1890 architects MacGibbon & Ross added a bathroom extension. Within the grounds is an unusual circular stable block built in 1816 to designs by James Gillespie Graham (1777-1855). The house has been run as a hotel since 1959. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Accession Number 1991/27

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/774393

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap