Interior-general view of Great Hall of Craig House

Description Interior-general view of Great Hall of Craig House

Date 1895

Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England

Catalogue Number BL 13243

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies B 64326, SC 730034

Scope and Content Great Hall, Craighouse Mental Asylum, Craighouse Road, Edinburgh, looking south (latterly the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and presently part of Napier University) Craighouse Mental Asylum, a huge chateau designed by the architect, Sydney Mitchell, was built in 1889-94 as new hospital premises for the Royal Edinburgh Asylum. The Great Hall, a general amusement room for patients, was photographed in 1895 by the architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere. This huge Baronial-style hall has walls lined with a deep oak-panelled dado above which oak Corinthian pilasters rise to a magnificent barrel-vaulted ceiling. The room is lit by semicircular clerestory windows, and a musicians' gallery runs across the south wall (centre). Large canopied chimneypieces face each other across the room which is furnished in the style of a grand country house. The asylum was intended for fee-paying patients, many of whom were accustomed to living in a grand style. The Great Hall was designed for relaxation and recreation, and orchestral recitals and musical evenings were a regular feature. The patients themselves often staged plays and theatrical events. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Glass

External Reference Box 26

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