14 C O N T E X T 1 3 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 Edinburgh Old Town projects Sugarhouse Close we saw a sympathetic redevelopment of the brewery. Two timber-clad student blocks nicely frame a vista towards the brewhouses, kilns and Arthur’s seat beyond. The final stop on the tour was my favourite: an outstanding 16th century dwelling, which is now the office of EdinburghWorld Heritage (146 Canongate). At the rear is a courtyard, which features a stone stair tower with an elaborate 17th century pedimented doorcase and crowstepped gable. The charity has recently gone to the effort of reopening the original quarry to repair the slate roof. It was a fitting example of good conservation practice on which to end our tour. Sebastian Fry Upper Old Town I had been to Edinburgh only once before, and that was at New Year 15 years ago, so my memory of the city was cloudy, to say the least. Simon Green of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) provided a breezy, witty and energetic tour, well-calculated to blow away those ancient cobwebs. Concentrating around the upper part of the Royal Mile, with precipitous and leg-taxing detours to north and south, the tour looked at differing responses to the astonishing topographical and architectural context of the oldest parts of Edinburgh. Reinventing the heart of Auld Reekie as a place to live as fashions moved elsewhere (and as tourists moved in – especially after establishment of the festival) has evidently been a long-time concern. The walk paid special tribute to Sir Patrick Geddes (1854–1932) and his promotion of ‘constructive and conservative surgery’ rather than wholesale clearance as the means to revitalise a city. It was a Scot of a century earlier, Robert Adam, whose work at the university we admired first. It was made all the more impressive by the recent removal of cars from its central courtyard (conservative surgery). Then to Chambers Street and a nod to William Kininmonth’s 1954 Adam House, post-war neo-classicism entirely appropriate to its context and showing that creative traditionalism is not mere pastiche. On through the National Museum of Scotland, where the glorious logic of the original Victorian glasshouse interior is rather ignored by Benson and Forsyth’s much-praised but confused and confusing pre-millennial extension, past sentimental Greyfriars Bobby, his nose polished by millions, and into theWest Bow, more wholesale clearance of the 1820s, a curving swathe cut through the dizzying blocks of the OldTown to ease traffic flow. But here was a fascinating Georgian mediation between the old and new – one genuinely ancient gabled house, adjoined by a crowstepped paraphrase of itself and then a diminished version with a smaller gable as the corner turns and the plain horizontal eaves asserts itself for the rest of the row – a model modern architects might do well to study. An early 17th century plaster ceiling on the first floor of Riddle’s Court, which was built by Baillie John MacMorran in around 1590 (Photo: Charles Strang) This enlightening tour took us through the OldTown’s myriad of medieval streets, atmospheric closes and narrow wynds. Our expert guide was AdamWilkinson, director of a charity with the role of conserving, enhancing and promoting Edinburgh’sWorld Heritage site. It has the difficult task of managing the heritage of this complex living city centre, which boasts 4,000 listed buildings, 25,000 residents and four million visitors each year. The OldTown is built on a steep ridge and the street pattern resembles a skeleton. The Royal Mile serves as the spine, with narrow streets leading downhill on either side. Our tour began near the castle at the HUB, an early Victorian assembly hall by J Gillespie Graham and Augustus Pugin. Its gothic spire, the highest point in central Edinburgh, towers over the surrounding buildings. From here we made our way into the numerous closes, beginning at Lady Stair’s close, moving down the Royal Mile. These beautiful spaces remain quiet backwaters to the main thoroughfare. A project is under way to transform a dozen of them. Artists are being engaged to produce imaginative new artwork that entices people in. As we walked down one of the wynds we passed St Cecilia’s Hall, the oldest purpose-built music venue in Scotland, with the world’s finest harpsichord collection. A project is under way to conserve the facade. At Tweedale Court we saw a remarkable sight: a supposed sedan chair garage. This quaint leant-to stone building had timber doors, a dentilled eaves cornice and a slate roof. Built in the 18th century, it is testament to the days when there were nearly 250 sedan chairs in the city. Modern architecture inevitably proves controversial in the Old Town and provided a major talking point. Along the Royal Mile is the Missoni Hotel, a bold, though multi-faceted, addition to the main street. Built of sandstone with a grid of incised openings, it creates a juxtaposition to the historic buildings of the Lawnmarket. Perhaps more in keeping with the medieval layering of the city is a redevelopment at Advocates Close: a sleek stone-and-glass structure that steps down the hillside in a way that reflects the old tenements. It incorporates one of the oldest townhouses in Edinburgh and a subterranean medieval passage. At
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