Ramsay Garden

Infobox Historic building
name = Ramsay Garden

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caption = Ramsay Garden seen from Princes Street
location = Castlehill
location_town = Edinburgh
location_country = Scotland
architect = Stewart Henbest Capper, Sidney Mitchell
client = Patrick Geddes
construction_start_date = 1733, 1890
completion_date = 1893
style = Scots Baronial

Ramsay Garden (or Ramsay Gardens) is a block of sixteen private apartment buildings in the Castlehill area of Edinburgh, Scotland. They stand out for their red ashlar and white harled exteriors, and for their prominent position, most visible from Princes Street.

Developed into its current form between 1890 and 1893 by the biologist, botanist and urban planner Patrick Geddes, Ramsay Garden started out as Ramsay Lodge, a block of Georgian "garden homes" built by the poet and wig-maker Allan Ramsay the Elder in 1733. [Kitchen 1975: 124, Lessware and Gibson 2006]

History

Geddes' work on Ramsay Garden began in the context of an urban renewal project that he had embarked on in Edinburgh’s Old Town. The area had fallen into disrepair, and Geddes hoped both to improve the living conditions of the working class, and to increase the number of wealthier residents. He was also involved in improving buildings for use as student accommodation. To these purposes Geddes rehabilitated a significant number of tenement buildings in slums along the Royal Mile, [Meller 1990: 76] including Abbey Cottages, Whitehorse Close and Riddle’s Court. [Kitchen 1975: 119]

The Ramsay Garden development also served these aims. It was partly financed by the prospective buyers of the apartments, and partly by 2000 pounds that Geddes wife, Anna Morton, had inherited from her father. Geddes engaged the architect Stewart Henbest Capper to remodel Ramsay Lodge, and to build six large new flats onto it at right angles. [Kitchen 1975: 124] By this time Geddes had acquired a position at a university in London, but he continued to supervise the design of Ramsay Garden on his frequent trips to Edinburgh. The result of the partnership was a combination of traditional Scottish domestic architecture and a rather fanciful proliferation of balconies, towers and eaves. [Kitchen 1975: 124] Geddes referred to Ramsay Garden in later years as the "seven-towered castle I built for my beloved". [Mairet 1957: 74]

As a result of his own experiences in universities, and inspired by the better student facilities he had seen in Europe, [Kitchen 1975: 124] Geddes was also concerned with the provision of quality accommodation for students. By the time Ramsay Garden was being built he had already established other student Halls of Residence in partnership with the Town and Gown Association. [Meller 1990: 76-7] By the end of the nineteenth century he had managed to provide enough housing for more than 200 university students and staff. [Kitchen 1975: 131] The Halls of Residence were intended to be self-governing, with responsibility for drawing up house rules left to the students themselves. [Meller 1990: 76] The Ramsay Lodge section of the Ramsay Garden development was used for this purpose. [Kitchen 1975: 115-9] Murals painted by John Duncan on the walls of the dining and common rooms depicted images from Celtic myth and history. [Boardman 1978: 149] Lectures and seminars were sometimes held on the premises. [Kitchen 1975: 146]

Other parts of Ramsay Garden were available to the public. The Geddes family lived in number 14, a twelve-room apartment on the fourth storey. By all accounts it was an impressive residence. The drawing-room was two rooms connected by an archway, with the whole measuring 20 by 40 feet. The sweeping views, which reached as far as the old Kingdom of Fife, [Boardman 1978: 121] could be admired through the bay and turret window spaces at each end. This room was regularly used for large gatherings. [Mairet 1957: 74] Frescoes by Charles Mackie graced the master bedroom. [Boardman 1978: 123] The lease of the apartment was eventually sold to the Town and Gown Association due to Geddes financial difficulties. [Kitchen 1975: 254] Although he later wished to repurchase it, his desire for the apartment to remain in the family was not fulfilled. [Kitchen 1975: 277]

Ramsay Lodge was the last of the University Halls to be sold off by the Town and Gown Association. When it was purchased in 1945 by the Commercial Bank of Scotland, it was a condition of sale that the murals be retained. The Bank went on to use the Lodge as a residential hostel and training centre. [Boardman 1978: 431-2]

Present use

Ramsay Garden is now considered a desirable, though noisy, address. Some of the apartments are let out as holiday accommodation. [Lessware and Gibson 2006] It is a minor feature in some guides to Edinburgh.

Notes

References

*Boardman, P. (1978) "The Worlds of Patrick Geddes: Biologist, Town Planner, Re-educator, Peace-warrior". Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.
*Kitchen, P. (1975) "A Most Unsettling Person: An Introduction to the Ideas and Life of Patrick Geddes". Victor Gollancz: London.
*Lessware, J. and Gibson, J. (June 28, 2006) ‘A great flat if you like Tattoos’ [electronic version] The Scotsman: Living. http://living.scotsman.com/edinburghmilitarytattoo/A-great-flat-if-you.2787781.jp.
*Mairet, P. (1957) "Pioneer of Sociology: The Life and Letters of Patrick Geddes". Lund Humphries: London.
*Meller, H. (1990) "Patrick Geddes: Social evolutionist and city planner". Routledge: London.