Edinburgh, Corstorphine Road, Tor House

NT 22223 73227 A historic building survey was carried out of a former country house (later a nursing home), together with its associated stables and lodge house, at 30 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh. The works were undertaken, 11–13 March 2020, in advance of development as a condition of planning consent on the renovation of the 19th-century buildings.

Tor House was built for James Craig, proprietor of Craig & Rose, manufacturers of luxury paints, in 1850, in a Neo-Jacobean style. By the late 19th century the house was known as Torwood, and had a large conservatory to its E side about half the size of the house, with other smaller expansions made to the rear service wing. Land to the E was appropriated, and a large stable block and lodge house were also constructed to the NE and S of the house respectively. An additional wing to the house was added between 1896–1908 on the W side, undertaken by the then owner, James Ainslie, a wholesale wine and spirit merchant. The latest private owner, D W Paton, occupied the house until 1947 when it was then used as a convalescent home for RAF servicemen, then as a Salvation Army home for unmarried mothers. Between April 1940 and July 1943, the house was also used as the headquarters for the No. 34 Balloon Command Group by the RAF. It was one of five Groups across the UK, with nearly 100 balloon squadrons. Tor House became a nursing home run by the Edinburgh and Lothian Baptist Housing Association in 1971. In 2005, a major expansion was undertaken which included the construction of a large apartment-style complex to the E side of the house.

Both the main house, stables and lodge house will be affected by the new development, which will see the renovation of the buildings to form new residential dwellings together with new-build apartments.

The buildings, despite the 2005 major renovations, have retained many of their original fixtures and fittings, including floors, wall panelling, fireplace and fireplace surrounds, wallpaper, skirting, cornices and decorative ceilings, doors and door fittings and stained glass windows. The main north stable block, particularly, has retained many of its original fixtures and fittings, fitted by Musgrave & Co Ltd, a well-known stable fitters (as well as stove makers) of the period. The lodge house has modern fixtures and fittings throughout, although it has largely retained its original layout albeit with the addition of a bathroom extension in the E side.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: AMA (TOR) Ltd

Diana Sproat and Robert Usher - AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Vol 21)

OASIS ID: aocarcha1-391555