157-159 LANARK ROAD WEST CURRIE Conservation Statement Simpson & Brown Architects April 2011 Front cover: 157 Lanark Road West, 2011. Simpson & Brown Contents Page 1.0 INTRODUCTION 3 1.1 Objectives 3 1.2 Study Area 3 1.3 Designations 4 1.4 Site Inspection & Research 5 1.5 Abbreviations 5 2.0 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 6 2.1 Early Development of Currie 6 2.2 Historical Development of Numbers 157 & 159 Lanark Road 7 West 3.0 AS EXISTING 9 3.1 The Currie Conservation Area 9 3.2 157-159 Lanark Road West 10 4.0 IMPACT ASSESSMENT 12 4.1 Introduction 12 4.2 Identification of Impact 12 4.3 Evaluation of Significance 12 4.4 Mitigation 12 4.5 Residual Impacts 13 4.6 Relevant Policies from the Rural West Edinburgh Local Plan 13 4.7 Summary 14 5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 15 5.1 Retention of Significance 15 5.2 Further Research 15 5.3 Physical Evidence and Recording 15 5.4 The Design of New Buildings 15 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie Simpson & Brown Architects 1 2 Simpson & Brown Architects 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Objectives This document has been commissioned by Cruden Homes (East) Ltd. who wish to develop the site assessed within this report. The document is intended to accompany the application for Conservation Area Consent to redevelop the currently unused site. This document assesses the likely impact on the Currie Conservation Area. 1.2 Study Area The site is approximately 0.28 hectares (0.68 acres) in area and its principal frontage faces north on to Lanark Road West. Although originally constructed as two separate residential dwellings, the site was later amalgamated for use as a care home which closed several years ago. The garden grounds extend southwards down to the Water of Leith. Figure 1 OS Map showing location of study area. OS/Bing.com 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie Simpson & Brown Architects 3 Figure 2 Map showing location of 157-159 Lanark Road West with the Currie Conservation Area boundary. City of Edinburgh Council Figure 3 Oblique aerial view from the S with the study area outlined. Bing.com 1.3 Designations The study area is within the Currie Conservation Area boundary – see figure 2. Reference has been made whilst carrying out research for this assessment to the 2000 character appraisal of the conservation area. In planning terms the site lies within the boundary of the Rural West Edinburgh Local Plan. No part of the site is listed by Historic Scotland as being of architectural or historical significance, but it is adjacent to 161 Lanark Road West which is listed at Category B and across the road from the Gibson Craig Memorial Hall which is listed at Category C(S). 4 Simpson & Brown Architects 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie 1.4 Site Inspection & Research A site visit was conducted by Simpson & Brown on Friday 8 April. Only very brief documentary research has been carried out for this report given the relatively short timeframe in completing the report, it is therefore likely that more information may be available. We consider that sufficient research was undertaken for the purposes of this report. 1.5 Abbreviations The following abbreviations have been used throughout this report. CEC City of Edinburgh Council NLS National Library of Scotland RCAHMS The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland S&B Simpson & Brown Architects OS Ordnance Survey 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie Simpson & Brown Architects 5 2.0 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Early Development of Currie Whilst records show the establishment of a Christian community in the area as early as 1018, there is archaeological evidence that suggests human habitation in the vicinity as early as 1800 BC. The derivation of the name is uncertain but the conservation area character appraisal provides the most comprehensive list of possibilities: ‘Coria’, name of a Roman camp; ‘Curragh’ from the Gaelic, meaning a boggy plain; ‘Curri’, an old family name or British (or Welsh) “Curi”, a hollow1. One of the earliest buildings that exists today in Currie is Currie Kirk, which dates to 1784-52, which is situated on the south bank of the Water of Leith, connecting to its parish over the Currie Brig. Figure 4 Detail of John Gellatly’s 1834 ‘New map of the country 12 miles round Edinburgh’ showing the limited extent of Currie at that date . NLS One of the earliest maps depicting Currie clearly is John Gellatly’s map of 1834. This shows the Kirk and the small hamlet growing around the Currie Brig over the Water of Leith and the road junctions on what is now Lanark Road West. The 18th and 19th centuries saw expansion of both industrial and related residential developments that utilised the Water of Leith. Producing a variety of goods, these mills were then boosted with the arrival of the Balerno branch railway line in the 1870s that weaved its way alongside the river. This also provided a more convenient passenger station at Currie, with the earlier station which continues to exist today on the main line at Curriehill. The branch line passenger service was closed in 1943, with the line as a whole in 1968. Since then, some industry has survived in the area, but the three villages of Juniper Green, Currie and Balerno are primarily residential, with convenient commuter access to Edinburgh. 1 CEC; Currie Conservation Area Character Appraisal; 2000; p3 2 Historic Scotland; Listed Building Report, No 6139 6 Simpson & Brown Architects 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie 2.2 Historical Development of Numbers 157 & 159 Lanark Road West Figure 5 1852 OS 6-inch map showing Currie. Two buildings, circled, are depicted on the site of the existing building – but it is not certain if they are the same buildings that exist today. NLS Figure 6 Late 19th century view from the west showing Lanark Road West, with number 159 on the right. The caption for the same image in Old Currie, Balerno & Juniper Green appears to mistakenly refer to this as the old Post Office with the telephone exchange being ‘next door’ – figure 7 confirms that number 161 was in fact the Post Office, and 159 being the telephone exchange. The earliest map evidence clearly showing both 157 and 159 Lanark Road West is the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map from 1852 (figure 5). This clearly identifies two separate dwellings in the correct location, although it is not possible to confirm that it is the two buildings that exist today. 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie Simpson & Brown Architects 7 Figure 7 Another undated view, perhaps early 20th century showing numbers 157, 159 & 161 Lanark Road West. Note the telegraph pole in the grounds of 159, and the further early example of non-residential use next door at 161 – the old Post Office. Although the date of the two stone dwellings cannot be accurately confirmed, it is likely that the single-storey 159 dates to the early to mid-19th century. As a point of reference, numbers 161-165 are noted as dating to c18153. Number 157 appears to have been either altered or replaced to provide a full additional storey behind a mansard roof – possibly in the late 19th century. The more pronounced quoins, architrave around the former entrance door and skewputs are late 19th century in character, as is the general arrangement of bay windows and mansard roof. Nevertheless, it is possible that this was a remodelling of an earlier single-storey cottage similar to number 159 – there is possibly a trace of a construction break in the gable indicating earlier fabric predating the mansard roof. Although there are few references to either cottage in archival sources, both Currie in Old Picture Postcards and Old Currie, Balerno & Juniper Green have photographs (figures 6 & 7) that show the two cottages (albeit with number 157 largely hidden). The latter mistakenly refers to number 159 being the old Post Office, with 157 being the telephone exchange, but the slightly later image in Currie in Old Picture Postcards confirms number 161 as the old Post Office and 159 as the telephone exchange for the village. The images also show the attractive original railings to both properties which were presumably removed during the Second World War. It is perhaps interesting to note the commercial use of both numbers 159 and 161 at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – albeit on a small scale alongside residential accommodation. It is not known when the two houses were amalgamated, but it is known that permission was granted in 1993 and 1994 to ‘alter and extend’ the then existing care home. The care home closed c2005 and an application was submitted to convert the property into a 13 bedroom HMO – although initially recommended for approval, this was later refused as a result of the unwillingness of the applicant to contribute towards upgrading pedestrian crossing facilities. 3 Historic Scotland; Listed Building Report, No 6126 8 Simpson & Brown Architects 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie 3.0 AS EXISTING 3.1 The Currie Conservation Area Figure 8 A typical scene in the Currie Conservation Area – the footpath alongside the Water of Leith from the Currie Brig. S&B Figure 9 General view of Currie Kirk and Figure 10 An earlier school building, dating the early 19th century schoolhouses. S&B to 1699. S&B Figure 11 Currie Library is in another Figure 12 What is today the Woodhall Arms former school building, dating to 1903. S&B public house. S&B 157-159 Lanark Road West, Currie Simpson & Brown Architects 9 Figure 13 A stone believed Figure 14 Remains of Figure 15 Typical view of the to be part of the medieval circular bottle kiln.