Doorpiece, 64 Queen Street, New Town, Edinburgh, 1790

64 Queen Street in Edinburgh’s New Town, built in 1790 for the Earl of Wemyss, has one of the most splendid of town house entrances in the city, with input from a range of craftsmen.  The finely carved yellow sandstone at the ground floor level of the four-storey house is carved in a manner that is seen along the length of the terrace, called ‘channelled rustication.’   The stonework at basement level was roughly hewn and the upper floors are finely chiselled.  The doorway is framed with fluted columns and an ornamental frieze containing rosette motifs.   The iron railings and oil lamp stands are designed to match and were probably made in Falkirk at the famous Carron Iron works, where craftsmen producing fine castings worked along side the mass produced output of gutters and pipes, everyday pots and pans and military iron wares.  Skilled metal workers also produced the finely detailed lace-like semi-circular wrought iron fanlight.  The latter varied greatly from house to house, with the finer the detail the greater the expense and prestige.

External uniformity allowed few opportunities to articulate the individuality or status of the householder.  Inside was a different matter, for it was here that most of the costly decoration or materials and variations in design were deployed, from carved marble fireplaces to finely detailed plaster cornices or brass door furniture.  The entrance to the house was an exception, giving opportunities for some to make a grand impression.

The building of Edinburgh’s New Town, and equivalent town planning schemes elsewhere and particularly in London, sustained armies of craftsmen in the building and house decorating trades.  With design expertise at a premium, the most able apprentices in areas like wrought iron working, plastering or stone and woodcarving, commonly took classes at the local design schools that flourished in Scotland.  Though styles of housing changed from mid century, the technologies of house building remained largely unaltered and later architect designers, such as Robert Lorimer, similarly drew on the skills of favoured craft workers.

Eighteenth and early nineteenth century town planning gave rise to uniform street facades dominated by terraced town houses conforming to an urban aesthetic where ordered neoclassical design predominated.  The town house was an architectural type that called on the skills of an array of craftsmen both inside and out and many of the greatest architects of the day, such as Robert Adam, designed such houses and terraces for elite customers.  The construction was commonly undertaken on a speculative basis by craftsmen drawn from a variety of skill backgrounds with capital and expertise in building project management.