Craig House, Edinburgh

Craig House
New Craig House
Location:	Edinburgh, Scotland
Listed Building – Category A
Official name: Craig House (Old)
Designated:	14 December 1970
Reference #:	28046
Listed Building – Category A
Official name: Craig House
Designated:	28 August 1979
Reference #:	27736

Craig House is a historic house and estate located on Easter Craiglockhart Hill, between the Craiglockhart and Morningside areas of Edinburgh, Scotland. Old Craig House dates from the 16th century, and succeeded an earlier building. In the late 19th century it was purchased by the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and the site was developed as Craig House Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, including substantial new buildings. Following refurbishment, the site was opened in 1996 as the Craighouse Campus of Edinburgh Napier University.

History

Craig House is recorded in the reign of King David II, and in 1528 the Abbot of Newbattle granted a charter here. The original house was burned down by the Earl of Hertford in 1544, during the Rough Wooing.^[1]

Old Craig House

Old Craig House

The present Old Craig House is dated 1565, although the architecture suggests a later date.^[2] It was built for the Symsounes of Craighouse. It later belonged to the Dick family, and was extended to the north-west around 1746. The historian John Hill Burton (1809–1881) lived at Craig House.^[3] In the 1880s it was described as "a weird-looking mansion, alleged to be ghost-haunted" in Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh.^[4]

Craig House Hospital

Stairway in the main hospital block

In the 1880s, Dr Thomas Clouston, Physician Superintendent of the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum (later the Royal Edinburgh Hospital), oversaw the purchase of Craig House by the managers of the Asylum in 1878.^[5] The site was intended for paying patients, and development was funded through the sale of land at the existing Asylum in Morningside.^[6] The new buildings at Craig House were planned by Clouston, and designed by the architect Sydney Mitchell in 1887. Work began in 1889 on the large main building, a hospital block, and three detached villas, all of which were complete by 1894. The main building, New Craig House, was intentionally grand, resembling a country house or hotel rather than an institution. It is designed in a picturesque "free Renaissance" style, with elements taken from French Renaissance architecture. The interiors include a great hall and a billiard room.^[6]

The hospital was renamed the Thomas Clouston Clinic in 1972, but closed in the early 1990s due to changes in the way mental illness was treated, and the increasing emphasis on care in the community.^[7]

Craighouse Campus

In 1994, Edinburgh Napier University purchased the 60 acres (24 ha) estate, and commenced a £14 million refurbishment, funded by a Historic Building Grant. The new campus opened in September 1996.^[8] The campus is home to the social science and communication arts courses, as well as the Ian Tomlin School of Music and the University Principal's Office.

In March 2011, Edinburgh Napier University sold the campus for residential development, and is expected to have moved out completely by 2013.^[9]

Coordinates: 55°55′23″N 3°13′41″W / 55.92306°N 3.22806°W / 55.92306; -3.22806

References

1. ^ "The Napier Estate past and present". Edinburgh Napier University. 2007. p. 4. http://www.napier.ac.uk/aboutus/history/Documents/CampusHistory.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
2. ^ "Old Craig House". CANMORE. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/52587/details/edinburgh+craighouse+road+old+craig+house/. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
3. ^ "Craig House (Old), Listed Building Report". Historic Scotland. http://hsewsf.sedsh.gov.uk/hslive/hsstart?P_HBNUM=27736. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
4. ^ Grant, James (1880). Old and New Edinburgh. 5. Cassel. pp. 53–54. http://www.oldandnewedinburgh.co.uk/volume5/page53.html. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
5. ^ "History of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital". Lothian Health Service Archive. http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/exhibits/hosp_hist/reh.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Craig House, Listed Building Report". Historic Scotland. http://hsewsf.sedsh.gov.uk/hslive/hsstart?P_HBNUM=28046. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
7. ^ "Sir Thomas Clouston". Gazetteer for Scotland. http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst1259.html. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
8. ^ "The Napier Estate past and present". Edinburgh Napier University. 2007. p. 13. http://www.napier.ac.uk/aboutus/history/Documents/CampusHistory.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
9. ^ "Napier Uni campus sold for flats". The Scotsman. 2011. p. 13. http://news.scotsman.com/education/Napier-Uni-campus-sold-for.6740247.jp. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 

• "New Craig House". CANMORE. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/73627/details/edinburgh+craighouse+road+new+craig+house/. Retrieved 2010-07-09.