A Window Through Time: Recording Past Renovations at Gladstone’s Land
Earlier this year, AOC was engaged by National Trust for Scotland to undertake a highly detailed internal survey of Gladstone’s Land, a six-storey 17th century tenement house situated within the Old Town of Edinburgh. It is not only an A Listed building but is also located within the heart of the World Heritage Site of Edinburgh’s Old Town. A building on the site is known to exist here by the 16th century, possibly as early as 1501 (Addyman et al 2016).
The present building was developed in 1617 – 1620 by Thomas Gledstanes, a prosperous merchant, after he acquired the building from William Fischer. It is possible that this building was originally timber and that Gledstane’s building re-built the structure in stone at some point in the early 17th century when Edinburgh Town Council encouraged the replacement of timber buildings within the city in stone as a fire prevention measure. Thomas himself lived at the property, but also rented it out to a number of tenants. It understandably went through a number of changes in its subsequent occupation in the 18th and 19th centuries such as modifications to the position of stairs, fireplaces, floor levels and internal partitions.
It was scheduled for demolition in the 1930s, under pressure from the 1930 Housing Act to clear away derelict buildings and slums, although was bought and saved from the wrecking ball by the National Trust for Scotland who undertook an extensive five-year programme of renovation and conservation works headed by Sir Frank Mears. The ground floor was later renovated to accommodate a shop in the 1970s.
The building features original painted ceilings from the early 17th century and is now an important tourist attraction for NTS with a museum on the first and second floors and holiday flats to the upper floors.
In 2020, work began to renovate the ground floor shop, and AOC was engaged to undertake a highly detailed internal elevations, floor plan, written and photographic survey after the initial soft strip of the 1970s renovations back to the bare walls. A range of features were uncovered, including blocked doorways, fireplace and even old wallpaper fragments as well as clear evidence of floor level changes. A 3D laser scan survey was completed of the entirety of the ground floor from which 2D plans and internal elevation drawings were created to highlight and demonstrate the complicated phasing of the building.
The highly accurate images above, produced through laser scan survey, highlight the many changes the building has seen over the centuries
Left: blocked window, now with a floor across it Right: blocked fireplace
For more information on Gladstone’s Land, visit the Canmore Entry on the site here. The new development will hopefully be completed in late 2020 and will incorporate a traditional ice-cream parlour. For more information on the new renovations, visit the National Trust for Scotland website, or contact Daniel Rhodes on drhodes@nts.org.uk.
References:
Addyman, T, Macfadyen, K, Morrison, J and Uglow, N 2016 ‘Gladstone's Land, Standing building Recording’, Discovery & Excavation in Scotland, Volume 17. Cathedral Communications Limited: Wiltshire, England. pp 67 - 68