Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

26-30 (EVEN NOS) COCKBURN STREETLB28578

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
14/12/1970
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 25805 73676
Coordinates
325805, 673676

Description

Peddie and Kinnear, Architects, 1859-61, enlarged to rear (by Peddie and Kinnear) 1867. 4-storey and attic symmetrical 4-bay gothic and Baronial former newspaper offices with narrow frontage and deep plan; twin crowstepped gables, each with paired bays contained in gothic-arched recesses framed by angle pilasters and nookshafts. Ashlar to ground, squared and snecked lightly stugged sandstone with polished dressings above. String and cill courses at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors (carried round to Anchor Close elevation). Openings in roll-moulded, stop-chamfered surrounds. Mirrored shopfronts with stone-mullioned windows in segmental-arched recesses; original timber panelled door to left with plate glass fanlight. Trefoil-pierced balcony to 1st floor. Carved SCOTSMAN masthead below 2nd floor windows. Segmental-arched windows to 2nd floor with carved thistles, shamrocks and roses; shoulder-arched windows to 3rd floor; basket-arched windows to attic; decorative iron window guards to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and attic floors. Chimneybreast corbelled out to centre at 2nd floor, with heraldic shield (lion rampant with motto IN DEFENCE over) below stack.

4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Corniced end stacks with circular cans and gabletted wallhead stack between gables.

Statement of Special Interest

A Group comprises 1-63 (Odd Nos) and 2-6 and 18-56 (Even Nos) Cockburn Street. The first purpose-built offices and printing works for the 'Scotsman' newspaper, built for John Ritchie and Company. At ground floor were the advertisement and publishing offices; at 1st floor the manager's room and counting room; editorial offices were at 2nd, equipped with speaking tubes, bells and copy chute to composing room to rear. There was also a typographical department employing 100 men, stereotype foundry and library. In the 2 machine rooms were 3 Walter presses which printed and folded 36,000 copies of 'a large 8-page sheet' an hour. On the E side of Anchor Close was the ink and paper store. Known briefly as Lord Cockburn Street, Cockburn Street was named after the doyen of conservationists, Lord Cockburn, who died in 1854. Cockburn Street was built by the High Street and Railway Station Access Company, under the Railway Station Acts of 1853 and 1860, to provide access to Waverley Station from the High Street. The serpentine curve of the street (anticipated in Thomas Hamilton's Victoria Street) gives a gradient of not more than 1:14; James Peddie and Henry J Wylie were the engineers. One of the aims of the design was to conceal the diagonal line of the street from Princes Street. A watercolour perspective drawing of the street by John Laing, published in THE BUILDER of 1860, shows how this was to be achieved. Stylistically, the intention was 'to preserve as far as possible the architectural style and antique character of the locality.'

References

Bibliography

Working drawings dated 20th April 1860 (Scotsman Office) NMRS. Dean of Guild, Railway Station Access Company, 14th July 1860. BUILDER 2nd August 1851 and 29th September 1860. Grant OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH (1885) vol 1 pp 283-6, ill p284. Gifford, McWilliam and Walker EDINBURGH (1984) pp 223-4. Information courtesy of David Walker (junior).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 11:16