Edinburgh, 67 Queen Street

66 AND 67 QUEEN STREET.

In 1791 the Town granted a feu-charter of the site of Number 66 to Major-General Abercromby of Tullibody, and another in the following year to William Tait in respect of the stance of Number 67. The two-houses were thereupon erected to a generally similar design, the plan of one being reversed in the case of the other. The fronts are identical and are built of ashlar, droved on the basement floor, channel-jointed on the street floor, and polished above with projecting quoins at the corners. Above and below the zone of channel-jointing there are belts. The entrances from the street, situated at opposite ends of the two fronts, are surmounted by fanlights and flanked by side-lights, and are sheltered within shallow, pillared porches with pediments. The first-floor windows have blind balustrades at the breasts to which the sills form a coping. These windows themselves are lofty and have moulded architraves and cornices. Those of the second floor are shorter and have moulded architraves and sills beneath which are carved swags. A block cornice returns at the wall-head. A dormer window has been introduced at the W. end of Number 67. Both properties are now in one ownership, and have been placed in direct internal communication by the opening-out of doorways in the mutual gables, the street entrance of Number 66 serving both. This entrance leads into a spacious vestibule with an enriched ceiling. There is no structural division between the vestibule and -the staircase beyond, such as is usual in Queen Street, and the scale-and-platt stair rises from the inner end of the vestibule against the E. gable, an isolated column-supporting the landing above. From the staircase three rooms are reached. The original study at the N.W. corner of the house has two windows facing N., and on the W. a particularly good mantelpiece of carved pine enclosing a marble slip. The walls have dado panelling and an enriched cornice. An access to Number 67 has been broken out at the S.E. corner. The old dining-room at the S.W. corner of the house has been reduced by the formation at its N. end of a passage leading to Number 67; but even in its present state it is a handsome room. Lit from the S. by a Venetian window it has on the W. a fine carved mantelpiece of pine enclosing a gray marble slip. The walls have dado panelling with plaster panelling above and an enriched cornice. The doorhead of the original entrance is enriched in stucco. The room at the S.E. corner is featureless. On the first floor the principal room was the drawing-room, which occupied the full width of the front of the house. This has now been divided in two, the larger room on the W. having two windows facing N. while the smaller room has only one. The original mantelpiece of white marble can be seen in the W. gable, but the one in the E. gable has been inserted. The walls have dado panelling and an enriched cornice. Behind this, at the S.W. corner of the house, lies the old back drawing-room. This is lit by a Venetian window facing S. On the W. is a particularly good mantelpiece enclosing a marble slip and appropriately enriched in stucco with a trophy of arms and other devices. The walls have a dado rail and an enriched cornice. The remaining room at this level occupies the S.E. corner. At its S.W. corner a lavatory has been shut off. On the S. is a single window. and on the E. a mantelpiece enriched with garlands in stucco. There are four bedrooms on the second floor, three of them having each a single window and a fireplace with plain stone jambs, while the fourth at the N.W. corner has two windows facing N. and on the W. a fireplace with a marble slip surmounted by a wooden frieze and shelf enriched in stucco. Above the second-floor landing is an admirable circular cupola with enrichment on the coving. The attic rooms are featureless.

The original entrance to Number 67 has been converted into a window, and the vestibule into which it opened has become a small but useful room. The plain mantelpiece on the W. has been inserted but the enriched ceiling is an original feature. At the inner end a doorway admits to the original staircase, from which three rooms are entered. Of these the one at the N.E. corner has been reduced by the formation of a passage at the S. end. It has on the E. a good carved mantelpiece of pine with a marble slip. The walls have plaster panelling and an enriched cornice. The room at the S.E. corner is lit from the S. by a Venetian window and has a plain marble mantelpiece on the E. The smaller room at the S.W. corner is featureless. On the first floor the drawing-room, which ran the full width of the front of the house, has been divided so that the fine enriched ceiling cannot be seen as a whole. Both divisions have plain marble mantelpieces, of which the one to the W. is probably an insertion, and enriched cornices. The back drawingroom at the S.E. corner is lit from the S. by a Venetian window and has on the E. a mantelpiece with stucco enrichment. The walls have a moulded cornice, the absence of enrichment being unusual. Another room at the S.W. corner is lit from the S.by a single window, and has on the W. a fireplace with plain jambs and a wooden mantel. The walls have an enriched cornice.

On the second floor there are four rooms, obviously bedrooms. The one at the N.W. corner, which has two windows facing N., has on the S: a bed recess and a press. On the W. is a fireplace with plain jambs and a wooden frieze and shelf rather tamely enriched in stucco. The walls have a moulded cornice. The neighbouring room at the N.E. corner has a single window to the N. On the E.is a mantelpiece similar in character to the last. The walls have a moulded cornice. The bedrooms at the two back corners each have a single window and a fireplace with plain stone jambs. The stair to the attic is separate, but the landing appears as a gallery in the main staircase. Like that of Number 66 it is lit by a singularly graceful circular cupola with an enriched coving.

RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941