Publication Account

Date 1951

Event ID 1097627

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1097627

RCAHMS County Inventory: The City of Edinburgh

14. Gladstone's Land, 483-489 Lawnmarket.

This dignified ashlar-fronted building (Fig. 209 [SC 1164094]), standing on the N. side of the street and extending at the back into James' Court, takes its name from Thomas Glaidstanes,* burgess and guild-brother of Edinburgh, who became its proprietor in1631. (1) In 1934 it was acquired by the National Trust for Scotland. It has a special interest as being the last building left in Edinburgh with an arcaded front. Such fronts were a development from the overhanging timber galleries, sometimes corbelled out and sometimes supported on wooden posts, with which so many medieval houses in Edinburgh were provided (see RCAHMS 1951 p. lxx). When these galleries came to be rebuilt in stone and lime, as was done from the end of the 16th century onwards, proprietors were required to preserve the passageway that ran below the galleries, and the new stone fronts were accordingly supported upon open arcades which left room for pedestrians behind them. Thus, while the upper storeys were extended to the newbuilding-line, the front of the street floor was from 4 ft. to 10 ft. inside it.

Gladstone's Land has a frontage of 23 ft. 6 in. and a depth of 63 ft., the latter divided unequally into two major divisions by a stout transverse wall which rises from the cellar to the attic through the four main storeys. At the street and cellar levels a section of rough masonry was visible in the portion of the wall that is marked in solid black in Fig. 225 [SC 426591]; this may or may not have been the last vestige of the N. or back wall of an early house but, in any case, in the time of James VI the wall, whatever it is, presumably repaired at the base and rebuilt from the first floor upwards, became the S. or front wall of a new building which survives to-day as the back portion of the existing tenement. There may have been another building between it and the Lawnmarket, but for this there is no evidence. So far as can be ascertained, the 16th century building was oblong on the ground floor but L-shaped above, the wing having perhaps been supported on posts, and contained four main storeys reached from a newel-stair, still extant ,as a projection from the N. end but at one time incorporated in a low range which ran as far N. as Lady Stair's House. From its front wall projected tiers of wooden balconies, one on every floor above the street level, each of which was enclosed at one end to make an oriel window communicating with the room behind through an archway. On each of the upper floors there is evidence fortwo rooms at the S. end of the building and for one at the N. end, so that the accommodation in each house probably consisted of hall, "chalmer" and kitchen.

In the year 1620 the galleries were removed and the building was extended 18 ft. 6 in. S. towards the street, providing an extra room upon each of the upper floors and a shop below. In the course of the restoration of 1936 the ceiling-joists of the front apartment on the street floor were found to run right through the 16th-century wall on the N., that is to say, the upper part of this wall seemed to have been built upon the top of the joists, a circumstance held to rule out the possibility of the wall having once been an external one, as suggested above. There was no point in giving the ceiling-joists more than the customary wall-hold of from 10 inches to 1 foot, whereas the joists of a balcony might quite well have been carried right through the wall, as cantilevers. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that the balcony-joists were withdrawn and ceiling joists inserted in their places in 1620. The new rooms were evidently of importance, and were presumably halls. The new front had timber galleries overhanging the street floor, and a newel stair of stone at the W. side.

When the new owner acquired the property in 1631 he replaced the wooden front by the present stone one, with the arcade upon which it rests. He had to take down the outer half of the staircase and rebuild it to suit his front, which accounts for the staircase being egg-shaped and not circular on plan. In the course of the operation old ship-timbers** were used to support the overhanging parts; and these curved "grown timbers" were so suitable for the purpose that they have been allowed to remain in the masonry. The design of the stone front suggests that it was then proposed to shut a lobby off from the front room of 1620 upon each floor. In that event every flat would have contained five compartments while the street floor would have had a shop in front and a dwelling-house of three rooms at the back, all resting on a cellar age which was divided into four compartments. Evidently one flat was reserved for the proprietor himself (2) and presumably he let the rest; his accommodation was thus at least equal to that of James Johnston, a neighbour on the W., who had a hall with a chamber at one end and a kitchen at the other, a loft above and two cellars below. (3) The alterations just described were probably completed by 1634.*** As late as 1733, the date of the earliest title extant, the premises were still in the hands of the Glaidstanes family and were then ruinous. Half a century earlier the N. half of the building had been remodelled internally. Rooms were divided up, pine-panelling was introduced, fireplaces and windows were closed up and others opened out to suit the re-arrangement.

The back portion of the building, as has been said, was certainly oblong on the ground floor, but above that level the easternmost of the two rooms at the S. end may have projected E. of the main E. wall in a timber construction. Something of the sort is suggested by the plan, and moreover, a structure in such a position, standing back to back with a timber house facing the Lawnmarket in the position presently occupied by the premises numbered 479, is on record in a title of 1755. It appears that the structure in question was replaced, at sometime after 1723, by a wing which the deed speaks of as "the new south jamb" and which stood at right angles to Gladstone's Land looking out on a little court situated on the S. side of Lady Stair's House. The lower part of the "new south jamb" still exists, but a corresponding "north jamb," which ran N. from Gladstone's Land to Lady Stair~ House, was taken down some years ago. The accommodation of the entire third floor is given in 1733 as six" fire-rooms" - that is to say habitable rooms with fireplaces - in addition to a kitchen and a cellar. Further subdivision took place later and, when the National Trust acquired the property, there were twelve compartments upon the first floor, five in the part facing to the front, four towards the back and three in the E. wing. Under the direction of Sir F. C. Mears, P.R.S.A., F.R.I.B.A., who acted in consultation with the architects of H.M. Office of Works, a scheme of restoration was drawn up having for its object the laying bare of as much of the earlier parts of the fabric as was compatible with putting the place to practical use. As the scheme took shape the front portion of the building was opened out to show the arrangement of 1620 and was placed in direct communication with the first floor of the wing, which in its turn illustrates the treatment of the 18th century; while in the upperpart of the back portion three small dwelling-houses were formed for working-class tenants, who enter by the N. staircase. For the purpose of the present description, however, these dwelling-houses have been omitted from the plan (Fig. 225), which shows the back portion of the house as a skeleton and makes clear the arrangement that now obtains in front.

[see RCAHMS 1951 74-78 for a full architectural description]

RCAHMS 1951

*His descendant, Sir John Gladstone, dropped the final "s" in 1835 by Royal License (Burke's Peerage).

**The ship from which they came, being old enough in 1631 to be fit only for the breakers' yard, may have formed part of the navy of James IV.

***In that year the city was divided into sixteen "companies," of which the second was to terminate at Thomas Glaidstanes' land.