Edinburgh, 240 Canongate, 3, 4, 5, 6 Chessel's Court, South Block

114. Chessel's Buildings, 6-14 Chessel's Court, 240 Canongate.

No essay on the trend of domestic architecture in the capital would be complete without some reference to this spacious tenement, which stands at the back of Chessel's Court. Dating from about 1748, it is not only the best preserved but also the finest example of the “mansion flats” that were once so common in the Old Town. Originally built to accommodate persons of standing, with the passage of time it has dropped in the social scale; by 1769 it had become the Excise Office, and to-day one part is devoted to a kindergarten, while the remainder is partly occupied by working-class tenants.

In the first instance this building comprised an oblong main block of three storeys, an attic and a cellarage, the major axis lying E. and W.; a lane ran past the E. gable to the South Back of the Canongate. At either end of this primary building there are additions. Edgar's map of 1765 shows the extension on the E. but omits that on the W., yet the latter seems to be the earlier of the two. This W. addition is a wing equal in height to the main block and extending N. in alinement with the W. gable; from its E. side there projects a semi-octagonal stair-tower. In the E. extension the main block was continued towards the E., while from the junction a second wing containing an extra storey was set out parallel to the W. wing; this has a tall semi-circular stair-tower projecting from its E. wall, where the ground level is lowest. The original main block contained one set of flats, while the W. wing and the E. extension each housed another, all three being separated by solid walls. The lane was left as a passage, but its upper end was now reached by descending a short flight of steps and passing below the extension.

The masonry is of rubble throughout with back-set dressings, and the elevations as a whole are full of character. The principal entrance is through a rusticated archway in the centre of the front, approached by a flight of steps. The windows immediately above, which light the staircase of the main block, are round-arched, in contrast to the others which are all lintelled. Above the eaves rises a central gab let containing two small windows in addition to an arched light, but apart from these the attic floor is lit from storm windows. The wings necessarily have separate entrances; these are situated within the opposite re-entrant angles, that on the W. being plain while that on the E., which is reached by a short flight of steps, has a moulded doorway with a lugged architrave, bellied frieze and a triangular cornice. The E. extension has two additional entrances, both unadorned, which are situated respectively in the stair-tower and in the E. wall. The three doorways serve different parts of the extension. The other elevations need not be described in detail.

The accommodation is arranged in a straightforward and convenient manner, but it need not be described in detail. Attention may, however, be drawn to the finish of the principal apartments. By the date at which the house was built the tradition of the wood-panelled room was waning, “all-over” wall-papers had not yet come into common use, and stucco, so readily manipulated to the exuberant fancy of the designer, had become fashionable although the detail generally lacked the refinement that characterised similar work in France. Doors and fireplaces were singled out for special treatment and their positions were carefully considered. The prevailing treatment for a living-room was now a low dado surmounted by simply-moulded rails and styles of pine enclosing a plaster panel, sometimes painted but more often covered with silk damask. The fireplace usually had a marble slip, enclosed by an enriched margin and surmounted by a bellied frieze which was often carved with a garland of bay-leaves, and a moulded and enriched cornice. Over this came a panel, either painted with a romantic landscape or decorated with a trophy in relief, the latter executed in stucco; its moulded margin was usually lugged and heavily enriched. Small mirrors might be similarly set, in permanent frames, on the side walls to serve as decorations and to remedy any deficiency of light. The cornices were of plaster, the more ornate examples having enriched modillions. On the principal or ground floor of the main block is a suite of five rooms decorated in this manner. Above two of the fireplaces are panels with stucco ornament, while two others, and perhaps a third, are surmounted by romantic landscapes. The first floor has a suite of seven rooms, all panelled but slightly later in style than those below. The central room facing S. has boldly-modelled swags of fruit above four of its six doors, while the panel above the mantelpiece contains a similar swag and the broken pediment above it a basket of flowers. The mantelpiece itself is carved. In the adjoining room to the W. there was once a landscape painted on the panel above the fireplace. The four rooms facing N. have been turned into kitchens and bathrooms.

Three rooms on the floor above have been finished in a simpler fashion. Above the fireplaces of two of them were landscape panels, one of which is still to be seen, while the third room exhibits a Regency scroll-work instead. · Since the rooms of the W. wing are smaller than those of the main block, their decoration has been planned on a correspondingly smaller scale. Four rooms still show the original treatment, three of them having stucco enrichment but none having landscape panels. In the extension, however, the scale of the main block has been preserved, and the south-eastern room on the first floor, which contains an elaborate fireplace with atrophy above it, is particularly handsome. In two rooms on the third floor the fireplaces were formerly surmounted by landscape panels.

RCAHMS 1951