Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Standing Building Recording

Date 5 September 2016 - 8 September 2016

Event ID 1039694

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1039694

NT 24125 71119 (centred on) A historic building survey was undertaken, 5–8 September 2016, as part of the second Royal Edinburgh Hospital Campus development.

The earliest occupation of the present development area was the Myreside Cottages which were established in the mid-18th century. This was later followed by the Tipperlin Chemical Works to the NE, which gradually expanded from the late 18th to the early 19th century. The present Royal Edinburgh Hospital (1839–1842) was the second phase of construction of a mental institution on the site, with an earlier asylum constructed in 1808 to a design by Robert Reid to the E of the present complex, which was later demolished to make way for new suburban development in the 20th century. The present hospital was centred on McKinnon House, which was named after its first Superintendent William McKinnon. It consisted of an

H-plan building with a male wing to the NE and female wing to the SW, the latter of which was added a few years later, 1852–1877. A laundry building was also established by this time, which gradually expanded throughout the later 19th and early 20th century to eventually become both a laundry and a post room. Both the male and female former detached refractory wards were later to become the Kinnair Unit (to the SW) and the Jordanburn Nerve Clinic (to the NE). The Affleck Centre to the SW of the

complex is now a residential patient care centre, although it was originally constructed in the later 20th as a Nurse’s Home. The adjacent chapel (which will not be affected by this development), is located to its E and was moved to its present site in the 1870s. Other structures located to the

W of McKinnon House include a number of timber and brick workshops, a brick boiler house and several timber clad offices. Finally, two former bath houses located within McKinnon House will be demolished and these were also recorded. The former female bath house to the SW has been converted to a gym and had a number of later modern brick additions as part of the expansion of the kitchen block to the N. The former male bath house to the NE has been converted to a library for many years, with additional small modern additions around it forming access corridors and modern small store rooms and offices.

A range of levels of historic building recording were undertaken on all the buildings that are to be demolished. A more detailed level of recording was undertaken of the 19th-century buildings, including the laundry and post room, the former female refractory ward, and the two former male and female bath houses in McKinnon House.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Morrison Construction Ltd

Information from Diana Sproat (AOC Archaeology Group) September 2019. OASIS ID: aocarcha1-264199

People and Organisations

References