Project of the week

Nos.16-18 Calton Hill make up the bottom and top halves of a four-storey, 18th-century tenement - a rare survival of old Calton, the village that once existed at the west end of the hill. In 1972, City of Edinburgh Council began demolition work on No.14 Calton Hill, and plans were later extended to No.16 and No.18. Fortunately, this was stopped by the objections of a local resident, supported by various conservation organisations. Though No.14 was unable to be saved, and the surviving parts were dismantled, a proposal to purchase and restore Nos.16-18 was put forward; this was ultimately unsuccessful.

Fresh hope came in 1979, when Cockburn Conservation Trust stepped in to negotiate an agreement whereby they would purchase Nos.16-18 and pursue its restoration. Work was completed in 1981, when the building was finally given protection with a Category B listing, and was subsequently sold as four individual flats. In a separate project, ran in conjunction with the revival of Nos. 16-18, Viewpoint Housing Association were granted permission to build a new property on the site of No.14 - designed in a style sympathetic with the earlier terrace, it incorporated pieces of stonework salvaged from the remnants of the demolished building.

Today, both the beautifully restored building at Nos. 16-18 and the new building at No.14 remain in use, sitting together harmoniously on Calton Hill.

“It’s fitting that one of the earliest AHF projects in Scotland was a housing project in the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town World Heritage Site – and that Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, the successor organisation to the Cockburn Conservation Trust, is still a highly active trust that AHF continues to support today.”

Gordon Barr, Development Manager (Scotland) at the Architectural Heritage Fund