Edinburgh, Camus Avenue, Comiston House
Hotel (20th Century), House (19th Century)
Site Name Edinburgh, Camus Avenue, Comiston House
Classification Hotel (20th Century), House (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) 62-68 Camus Avenue; Pentland Hills Hotel
Canmore ID 51786
Site Number NT26NW 41
NGR NT 24088 68744
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/51786
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT26NW 41.00 24088 68744
NT26NW 41.01 2453 6886 Lodge
NT26NW 41.02 23936 68599 Gate Piers
NT26NW 42 23996 68618 Stables
NT26NW 1 24004 68604 Dovecot
Built for Lord Provost James Forrest in 1815; now a hotel.
RCAHMS 1951; J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker 1984
Publication Account (1951)
188. Comiston House, Camus Avenue.
[NT26NW 1] All that survives of the old house of Comiston is a late 16th-century angle-tower of rubble, which has been incorporated in the S.E. corner of the modern stables. This fragment has an external diameter of about 12ft. and stands to a height of nearly 20 ft. The upper part is set out on corbelling, below which may be seen two oval gun-loops facing respectively N.E. and S.E. An inscribed pediment of 1610, noted in the Inventory of Midlothian (No. 23) has disappeared (see Fig. 422 [SC 1469566]). The modern house [NT26NW 41], which only dates from 1815,is a neat country villa typical of its time, consisting of an oblong main block with a circular bay projecting from its N. side and a service wing from the E. The main block has a basement and two upper floors, while the wing has a storey less. The front, which faces S., is pedimented and has Ionic pilasters at the corners. In the centre is a flat Ionic porch, surmounted by a Venetian window and flanked by an oblong window on each side. The ground-floor windows have moulded architraves and cornices; those on the first floor have moulded architraves, and the remainder are plain. The entrance opens into a vestibule on the ground floor, flanked on the E. by the dining-room and on the W. by the library. The vestibule opens into a central transverse passage leading E. to the wing and containing the stair at its W. end. On the N. of the passage is the drawing room, which includes the circular N. bay and has recently been subdivided. Beside it are two bedrooms. There are seven bedrooms on the first floor, but none of the rooms is of special interest.
RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941