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THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE
RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
www.shbt.org.uk
Charity No: SC034507
The Patrick Geddes Centre
Motto: ‘Vivendo Discimus’—by Living we Learn
Vision: To provide, from an important 16th Century building in the heart of
Edinburgh’s historic Old Town, a 21st Century hub for learning broadly based on
the principles of Patrick Geddes, a pioneering town planner with a deep concern
for the environment, education and conservation.
This project will repair and adapt Riddle's Court, an A-listed building in the heart
of Edinburgh's World Heritage Site of outstanding historic and architectural value
spanning 400 years of Scottish history. It will bring it back into use as a centre for
learning based on Patrick Geddes' ideas. Riddle's Court's rich and fascinating architecture and history make this the perfect place to spark the sense of wonderment
that Geddes identified as the necessary first step in all genuine learning. The project
has been developed and will be delivered by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust.
Scottish Historic Buildings Trust
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Scottish Historic Buildings Trust
Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT) is a charitable organisation dedicated to regenerating significant historic
buildings whose survival is threatened by dis-use, dereliction or demolition, for the benefit of others, through
conservation and sustainable re-use. SHBT is an established Building Preservation Trust and has over 35 years experience
in delivering complex regeneration projects through the repair and re-use of listed buildings, often stepping in as the
last resort to save a Building at Risk. The success of our projects is due to our collective skills in building conservation,
architecture, fundraising and project management, and through collaborative working with partner organisations to
identify and secure the end use of buildings, as well as the supporting skills and experience of our Trustees. Examples of
a few of our recent achievements in saving Buildings at Risk through conservation, redevelopment and re-use include:
•
Greenlaw Town Hall, Scottish Borders - an A-listed former County Hall,
saved from ruin and converted into offices and community hall. Owned
and managed by SHBT. Winner of the Georgian Group Architectural
Awards 2011, Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors (RICS) Award 2012 for
Community Benefit and Royal Town Planning Project Management Award.
•
The Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness – an A-Listed purpose built cinema, restored and leased to Falkirk Council as a community cinema. Winner
of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Award 2011 for
Community Benefit (Scotland).
•
Law’s Close, 339-343 High Street, Kirkcaldy – an A-Listed former 16th
Century merchant’s house restored as shop and office units for use by the
creative industries, owned and managed by SHBT.
•
Strathleven House, Dumbartonshire- an A-Listed Palladian mansion saved
from ruin to provide serviced business units, owned and managed by
SHBT.
The Hippodrome
Bo’ness
Law’s Close
Kirkcaldy
Greenlaw Town Hall
Scottish Borders
www.shbt.org.uk
Strathleven House
Dumbarton
Charity No: SC034507
Riddle’s Court, Edinburgh
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Riddle’s Court, Royal Mile, Edinburgh
Riddle’s Court is an A-listed courtyard house set behind the Royal
Mile, close to Edinburgh Castle within the World Heritage Site.
It is one of the most historically significant buildings within the
World Heritage Site. No other building can lay claim to the wealth
of influential and creative people, some grand and some ordinary,
that have chosen to live or work within its walls including King
James VI, the Lord Chancellor Alexander Seton, Sir John Clerk
of Penicuik, the Duchess of Buccleuch, the great philosopher
David Hume and Sir Patrick Geddes, the father of modern town
planning, educational reformer and polymath. As an Edinburgh
Fringe Festival venue, Riddle’s Court was host to Dame Maggie
Smith and Stephen Fry.
Location of Riddle’s Court, the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle
Architecturally it is of outstanding universal value. The evolution
of the building over a 400 year period is documented within its
fabric representing changes in its patronage and in Scottish
craftsmanship. It includes painted and plaster ceilings from the
16th through to the 19th centuries and other high quality features
such as panelling and fireplaces. It was also the original home of
a series of landscape panels by the 18th century landscape artist
James Norie.
The building is a significant part of the historic townscape of the
Old Town of Edinburgh, contributing to the outstanding values
of the World Heritage Site that attracts international tourism and
is a key economic driver for the Capital city.
Riddle’s Court is a beautiful, picturesque building whose antiquity
is palpable, with a fascinating, complex and intriguing history that
is only now being revealed. We are learning more each day, and the
story as we currently know it is sketched below.
Riddle’s Court entrance from the Royal Mile today
Early History
In the Rough Wooing of 1544, Henry VIII’s army sacked
Edinburgh and the site now occupied by Riddle’s Court was laid
waste. But rebuilding happened quickly and by the late sixteenth
century considerable portions of the building we see today were
already present, especially to the north and west of the court and
on the south side at basement and court level. Recently uncovered
manuscript evidence points to the possibility that the King’s Wall
(Edinburgh’s first city wall, built in the fifteenth century) is the
thick wall that runs across the site from west to east within the
building to the south of the court.
Riddle’s Court as ‘The Great Tenement’ c 1590.
www.shbt.org.uk
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Surviving late 16th Century painted tempera ceiling
Gordon of Rothiemay’s map 1647
Riddle’s Court and gardens
Surviving painted ceiling by Thomas
Bonnar 1895 for Patrick Geddes
Riddle’s Court in decline c. 1880 (SCRAN)
Baillie John McMorran’s
House
In the late 1580s, John McMorran reused the existing buildings and extended
them to create a ‘great lodging’ or
‘great tenement’ here. The term ‘great
tenement’ is rare, and implies something
very distinctive. The great improvement
made by Baillie McMorran was to
unify the disparate buildings on the
site to provide a continuous sequence
of splendid state and private chambers
around the court at first floor level.
Thus when King James VI and Anne of
Denmark came to the banquet held in
their honour in the house in 1598, they
entered up an external stair to a new
‘great entry’ in the south-east corner of
the court, along a gallery lining the east
side of the court and through to the
most private and high status chamber in
the north west corner – a room which
still has its splendid and rare tempera
ceiling of the 1590s.
We have a document of 1616 which
records that Alexander Seton, the
chancellor of Scotland lived here. Seton
was the most important man in Scotland
at the time – with direct access to and
www.shbt.org.uk
Decline and Revival
influence on King James VI.
Gordon of Rothiemay’s roughly
contemporary map of 1647 shows
Riddle’s Court’s unique setting: in a sea
of vertiginous closely-packed buildings,
there is a single patch of fine gardens on
the slopes immediately to the south of
Riddle’s Court.
Later in the seventeenth century and into
the eighteenth century, members of the
aristocracy and merchant class including
the Earl of Lauderdale, Sir John Smith
of Grothill, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik,
Roderick MacKenzie of Prestonhall,
Sir Thomas Stewart of Balcashie and
Sir Archibald Mure, late provost of
Edinburgh, the Duchess of Buccleuch,
Lord Royston and David Hume are all
recorded as owners or tenants of the
property. Many have left their mark on
the building through their patronage of
beautiful interior decoration – we have a
seventeenth century plaster ceiling (one
of only forty remaining in Scotland)
from Alexander Seton and early
eighteenth century panelling for Anne,
Duchess of Buccleuch.
The construction of Victoria Terrace
and Street through the garden of Riddle’s
Court was a watershed in its fortunes.
Suddenly its unique setting was lost
and in the next phase of its history, the
building spirals into decline. There were
some tragic losses in this period. The
saddest was the destruction of some of
the landscapes painted on the panels of
a chamber owned by the Duchess of
Buccleuch by James Norrie in the early
eighteenth century: “... as fuel was dear,
and the wood panels handy, [the tenant]
laid the better half of them on the fire
ere he too left! Thus perished the last, it
is thought, complete room of panels by
old Norie.”
As the building hit rock bottom, the
seeds of the building’s future revival were
sown when the Mechanics Subscription
Library moved in in 1854. This was a
hugely successful venture and, in the days
before public libraries, transformed the
life chances of working people in the city.
Patrick Geddes’ acquired the building
from 1889 and set about establishing a hall
of residence for university students here.
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Social life at Riddle’s Court in the early
1900s
Geddes abhorred the squalor of this part of the city: ‘this
mass of medieval and renaissance survivals has been, and
too nearly is still, the most squalid conglomeration, the
most overcrowded area in the old world: even in the new,
at most the emigrant quarter of New York or Chicago has
rivalled its evil pre-eminence’. But he recognised that what
was needed was not to clear away the old buildings and
start again but a radical new approach, for which he coined
the phrase ‘conservative surgery’. This involved selective
demolition to let in light and air and a minimal approach to
the treatment of the remaining buildings. This era too has
left a beautiful legacy in a painted ceiling by the firm of
Thomas Bonnar of 1895 in the room used by the students
as their dining room. In a series of painted panels, the
history of the building, city and university come to life.
The courtyard today showing cement
render applied in the 1960s.
established a base in the building in 1976. From 1951, the
building has also been used as a venue for the Edinburgh
fringe, with actors such as Maggie Smith and Stephen Fry
performing here.
But the building fell on hard times again, and in 2005 the
City of Edinburgh Council moved out of the building.
The historic turnpike stairs and changes in level make
access to many parts of the building difficult and limit
their use, and significant external repairs are needed.
Many of the students who lived here have gone on to
great things, for example, William Speirs Bruce and
William Gordon Burn Murdoch became early explorers in
the Antarctic. A research station there bears the inscription
‘Vivendo Discimus’ (By living, we learn), echoing the
inscription that Patrick Geddes added over the court
archway here.
The City of Edinburgh Council took ownership of
the building in 1948 and following a comprehensive
programme of repair, it was opened in 1966 as a centre
for community education. The range and reach of courses
was expanded when the Workers Education Association
www.shbt.org.uk
Surviving early 17th Century ceiling for the Lord
Chancellor, Alexander Seton
Charity No: SC034507
INTERNAL DECORATION
RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
www.shbt.org.uk
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Riddle’s Court’s interiors
For anyone with an interest in the decorative arts, Riddle’s Court is a must-see building, an encyclopaedia in stone,
plaster and paint with interiors illustrating the work of many of the leading exponents of all the important styles of
interior decoration from the sixteenth century to the twentieth.
Detail of frieze fragment.
Reconstructed image of the Tempera ceiling of the 1590s, showing the beam filling panels that were removed in 1962 reinstated.
Detail of frieze fragment.
Sixteenth century
Before the reformation, painting of Churches was usual,
afterwards it was rare. The reformation encouraged the
spread of domestic decoration due to the loss of Church
patronage and the redistribution of wealth, which set
craftsmen free to undertake a wide range of domestic
painting for the wealthy. And the wealth of Edinburgh
was in its Old Town at this time, and perhaps no other
house was as splendid as Baillie John MacMorran’s
new house, erected in the late 1580s. This building
was termed ‘the great tenement’, and because John
MacMorran had acquired two adjacent plots of land
running east-west from the Upper Bow, rather than
being constrained by narrow spaced closes running on
either side of the building plot, his house was unusually
spacious in its layout, being arranged around a courtyard,
with a grand circulation route to fine public rooms.
At this period, it was usual for painted decoration to be
applied to ceilings and occasionally the upper parts of
walls with wall hangings of tapestries below. The form
of construction of the buildings had a strong effect on
the style of the painted decoration, producing a strongly
linear style. In Riddle’s Court, there is a beautiful
example of this early ceiling decoration.
www.shbt.org.uk
The decoration is dense and elaborate and is believed to
have been painted to commemorate the visit to Scotland of
King James VI and the Duke of Holstein as representative
of the Holy Roman Empire. Michael Bath and Michael
Pearce (painted decoration specialists) note that the ‘…chief
repeated motif…is a crowned Imperial Eagle’ over entwined
thistles, a device designed to ‘…gain support of the Empire
in 1598, through use of the Imperial Eagle and the Scottish
Thistle’. They both stress the importance of this ceiling as a
rare example of ‘…ephemeral festive architecture rather than
domestic decoration’.
The paintwork has been done in tempera (water-based)
colours, and although the decoration appears fairly
monochrome, it would have been quite highly coloured
originally. There is evidence of blue, green, red, yellow
and white, as well as the black outlines. The colour of the
decoration on the beams alternates; red, blue, white, blue, red,
blue, white, blue, etc... It is also possible that some elements
were varnished to give the colour extra depth. It is sad to see
that the frieze that originally ran around the top of the walls
between the beams is no longer in situ. Only two known
fragments survive at Historic Scotland’s Conservation Centre
and we are investigating the possibility of reinstating these and
reconstructing the missing sections as part of the conservation
works, so that the ceiling can again be appreciated in its
original form (see reconstruction image above).
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Plasterwork celing of the early seventeeth century in one of the rooms occupied by
Alexander Seton
Plasterwork Celing of the mid seventeenth century. The date 1648 or 1684
is included in the centre roundel.
Seventeenth century
In the seventeenth century, plasterwork ceilings with run
mouldings to form frames and cast (or sometimes in-situ
moulded) decoration were in fashion. At Riddle’s Court we
have two examples, one which dates from the very early
seventeenth century in the area of the building occupied by
Alexander Seton, the chancellor of Scotland to King James
VI (King James I of England) from 1604. This high office
meant Seton had access to the craftsmen used on the King’s
buildings and we can trace the same motifs and patterns in
the ceiling here with those in other buildings where Seton
was the patron, such as Pinkie House in Musselburgh,
Fyvie Castle and Winton House (which was owned by his
brother).
www.shbt.org.uk
There is another splendid ceiling of this time in the
building. This one contains a puzzle that we have not yet
got to the bottom of – it contains a date, some portions of
which are written backwards, which may be either 1648 or
1684. Dr William Napier, the foremost expert in Scotland
on ceilings of this type is not comfortable with either of
these dates! His dating of the ceiling based on its details
would be around 1660. Perhaps the date commemorates an
important event (the death of King Charles)?
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
The panelling for Riddle’s Court under conservattion at Historic Scotland’s Conservation Centre prior to it’s display at the Museum of Scotland.
Eighteenth century
James Norie dominated decorative painting in Scotland in
the 18th century. The Norie firm employed a wide range
of painters, from tradesmen who would paint walls in solid
colours to decorative painters who were capable of painting
delicate Italianate landscapes.
The panels that remained were hidden under many layers of
paint and only discovered in the 1960s. They were removed
from the building shortly after and some of the panels are
now on display in the Museum of Scotland a few hundred
metres away.
At Riddle’s Court, Norie was commissioned to paint a
complete series of paintings on all the panels in a room
owned by Anna, Duchess of Buccleuch where her agent,
Lord Royston was installed in life rent. This is the room
mentioned already with the puzzling seventeenth century
plasterwork ceiling. Sadly, some of the panels were
destroyed at the end of the nineteenth century.
We hope to return those that remain in storage to Riddle's
Court once the repairs to the building are complete and it has
re-opened as the Patrick Geddes Centre.
www.shbt.org.uk
Other examples of Norie’s work nearby can be seen at
Caroline Park, Granton, Edinburgh (where Lord Royston
had his country house), Newhailes House, East Lothian and
Prestonfield, Edinburgh.
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
The painted ceiling by Thomas Bonnar of 1897 in the room used by the students of Geddes University Hall as their dining room.
Nineteenth century
David Ramsay Hay (1796 – 1866) is considered Scotland’s
finest Victorian decorative painter whose career started
when he was introduced to Sir Walter Scott who took him
on board as a protégé, commissioning him to carry out
the decoration of his house at Abbotsford in the Scottish
Borders. (The ceiling of the library is very similar in style
to Riddle’s Court but with grained oak carving around
elaborate painted panels, compared with Riddle’s Court
painted on the flat). Thomas Bonnar (1810 – 1873) was
employed by Hay, as head of decorative staff in 1839. In
1846, Bonnar left Hay and set up the new firm, Bonnar
and Carfrae, which his son, also named Thomas Bonnar,
carried on after his death. Bonnar and Carfrae worked on
a number of important buildings, one of which survives
today and is one of the most important masterpieces of
Scottish decorative art - the Drawing room at Newbattle
Abbey. Thomas Bonnar the younger prided himself as
a colourist and this continued interest in colour reflected
his father’s training with Hay. In 1897, Thomas Bonnar
the younger was commissioned by Patrick Geddes to redecorate the room at Riddle’s Court which was to be used
as the student’s dining room when the building was
converted to a University Hall.
www.shbt.org.uk
Within the ceiling pattern, Bonnar followed the old medieval
pattern of a compartmented ceiling, which depicts the
history of the building, the City of Edinburgh and the
University. The names of the painters who worked on the
ceiling are recorded in the corner of the room.
Geddes’ own house at Ramsay Gardens by Edinburgh Castle
features extensive stencilling and panels decorated by the
foremost artists of the Celtic revival and there is the chance
that similar decoration may survive at Riddle’s Court, hidden
beneath layers of more-recent emulsion paint. If evidence is
found, it is hoped that this decoration might be reinstated as
part of the capital project.
Charity No: SC034507
The Patrick Geddes Centre Project
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
The Patrick Geddes Centre Project
Project Background
By 2008, Riddle's Court was barely occupied and there was no public access. The
building needed urgent repairs, especially to its roofs, stone chimeys and walls and to
upgrade its services. Faced with a huge repair bill, the building owners, the City of
Edinburgh Council, proposed to sell the building. There was a public outcry and a
hard-hitting campaign was organised to fight back and keep the building in public use.
SHBT were asked by the Council to aseek an alternative future for the building and
undertook a Feasibility Study, completed in 2009. This established that there was an
alternative future for Riddle’s Court as a world class centre for learning.
Significant access issues limit public use of most of
the historic interiors
This will celebrate the building's exceptional cultural heritage, and continue the
learning use that it had become associated with over the last 150 years. On the
strength of the Feasibility Study and because of SHBT’s experience in delivering
complex building regeneration projects, the Council agreed not to dispose of the
building and in September 2011 granted a 99-year lease to SHBT so that SHBT could
manage the building and develop The Patrick Geddes Centre project. If SHBT does
not succeed in raising the remaining funds needed to ensure that the project goes
ahead, then instead of the increased access the Patrick Geddes Centre would offer, the
deteriorating condition of the building and its services mean that the doors to
Riddle’s Court will be closed to the public for good.
Vision and Aims
The Patrick Geddes Centre project aims to save Riddle’s Court by undertaking
essential repairs, improving access and providing a sustainable use. The Centre will
provide an exceptional place for the public within Edinburgh’s World Heritage Site, as
a place for learning based on Patrick Geddes’s vision of an education of ‘Hand, Heart
and Head’. To educate through the heart – by engaging curiosity and our sense of
wonder; through the hand – by touching, feeling, observing and working directly with
a subject; and through the head – by conceptualising, internalising and synthesising
ideas derived from experience and reflection. All this delivered in a building whose
antiquity is palpable, which is beautiful and picturesque, with a history that is
fascinating, complex and intriguing.
Extent of repair works required on just one of the
seven elevations
Patrick Geddes’ 3 doves—
representing how people learn through sympathy
(heart), synergy (hand) and synthesis (head)
The rich architectural and historic legacy of Riddle’s Court will be the inspiration
for the delivery of the learning and conservation programmes and themes of the
Patrick Geddes Centre.
The project will:
• Save one of Scotland’s most historically important properties within
the World Heritage Site of Edinburgh, by repairing it, enhancing its
significance and giving it a sustainable future
•
Develop a hub for activity-based learning and personal development
for individuals, based on the ethos of Patrick Geddes, that is relevant to all
age groups from pre-school children to older people
•
Instil in the public an understanding and appreciation of the historic,
cultural, social and architectural legacy of Riddle’s Court to inspire
them and the next generation
•
Enhance the historic townscape and provide a high quality cultural
resource for the people of Edinburgh, the Old Town resident and business
communities, and its visitors, as a counterbalance to the tourist economy
www.shbt.org.uk
Publication produced by WEA adult learning groups
in response to the threat of the sale of Riddle’s
Court 2007
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Key Project Activities
The core project will include:
1. Repair and conservation of the historic fabric to bring the
building in to a good state of repair, giving another 100 years of life
and history. Repair works include external masonry repairs, repair
and replacement of roofs, removing existing cement rendering and
providing new lime harling, repairing internal decorative features
including ceilings, fireplaces, panelling etc.
2. Access improvements to make the whole of the south block
including significant rooms at the first floor fully accessible, this will
involve inserting a lift and adjusting floor levels
3. Alterations to form front of house, cafe and exhibition spaces at
Victoria Terrace level with full access via lift to the upper floors.
A local school group participating in a poetry workshop inspired
by Riddle’s Court. A pilot project developed in partnership with the
Scottish Poetry Library
4. Development and delivery, with partner organisations, of a year
–round programme of learning for schools, community learning
groups, universities and colleges and adult learning providers at local
and national level. The key learning themes and objectives will be:
• Geddes inspired learning activities based on learning for ‘Life
Skills’
• The history, development and architecture of Riddle’s Court
• The influence of Patrick Geddes on international town planning,
and in the development of the Old Town of Edinburgh.
The learning activities will be delivered in a number of ways:
• Adult learning providers including the WEA, CEC and Newbattle
Abbey College will run adult learning programmes, themed short
courses, day schools, workshops and lectures
•
Education packages and programmes linked to the National
Curriculum for Excellence for schools, further and higher
education providers delivered with partners such as CEC, the
National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Poetry Library, University of
Edinburgh, Planning Aid Scotland, CITB
•
Evening masterclasses and study days organised by SHBT ,
Architectural Heritage Society Scotland and others
•
Work placements, workshops, practical skills and research
opportunities for universities and colleges
•
International summer schools, workshops and cultural tourism
events organised by by The Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust,
Edinburgh World Heritage Trust and others.
Vivendo Discimus– By Living We Learn.
Patrick Geddes' motto inscribed at the entrance to Riddle’s Court
www.shbt.org.uk
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
5. Publicengagementwiththeculturalsignificanceof Riddle’sCourt
through participation in learning activities, events, open days and an interpretive
exhibition for visitors and users of the Centre
Current public engagement, activity and partnership development
Since SHBT moved into Riddle’s Court in 2011 we have been developing activity programmes, and encouraging greater
public use and access to Riddle’s Court to raise awareness of the building and the project, as well as to test out activity
ideas with a range of groups. These have included:
•
Schools packages and workshops in partnership with the National Trust for Scotland and
the Scottish Poetry Library tied with the Curriculum for Excellence
•
participation in National Science and Engineering Week 2013, the Science Festival 2014 and
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012-14 including theatre, storytelling, makers fair and exhibitions,
•
weekly adult and community learning activities provided by the Workers’ Education
Association and City of Edinburgh Council themed and inspired by Riddle’s Court
•
University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Arts student placements and courses
including undertaking historic research and building surveying
•
Architectural Heritage Society Scotland and Cockburn Association evening lectures
•
weekly open afternoons, participation in Doors Open Days and Festival use have seen
over 25,500 visitors come to Riddle's Court since SHBT took up occupation in 2011 up
until the end of July 2014
6. Provide a mix of uses within the building
to provide a sustainable Centre. The learning
activities at The Patrick Geddes Centre will take part
within the historic rooms at Riddle’s Court which
will be repaired and facilities enhanced. Other
works will be undertaken to support the activities
of the centre, provide front of house and reception
space as well as mix of revenue-generating uses to
support the Centre. The building will be upgraded
to provide the following:
•
Front of house, catering and reception space
•
Office accommodation linked to learning and
meeting spaces for cultural tenants
•
Learning, workshop, meeting and exhibiton
space within the principal public rooms
•
A residential flat for visitng scholars, learning
providers and academics
•
Café and interpretive exhibition space.
•
Public rooms available to hire, including Festival
use.
www.shbt.org.uk
Tapestry - each panel depicts a
different historic event at
Riddle’s Court—in development
by a WEA class
First floor proposal showing
public rooms (pink) and flat
for a scholar or artist.
Proposed sectional perspective
showing public use to principal
floors with offices above.
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Project Programme and Costs
Timescale
Funding permitting, the building repair and construction works will start on site in Spring/Summer 2015 with The Patrick
Geddes Centre opening in 2017.
Project Delivery and Management
The capital project will be managed and delivered by SHBT.
An Advisory Group, with representation from core partners including the Workers’ Educational Association, City of
Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Planning Aid Scotland, the local community and others will help to
develop and deliver the learning activities working with the learning and audience development officers and the
Patrick Geddes Centre Director who will be employed by SHBT.
Upon completion SHBT will become the anchor tenant and will have full responsibility for the operation, management
and maintenance of the property. A property manager will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the building.
Costs and Funding
The total project costs are in the order of £5.7 million. The majority of these costs (£4.5million) are for capital building works
including repair, adaptation, access improvements, new building services installation, professional fees for the design team
and other consultants.
We have sucessfully raised 93% (over £5.3 million) of the funding needed. This includes a Round Two pass from the Heritage
Lottery Fund (£3.4 million) and a Building Repair Grant from Historic Scotland (£670,000). Other funders include The AEH
Salvesen Trust, The Architectural Heritage Fund, The Best Trust, The Binks Trust, The Dalrymple Donaldson Trust, The
Dunard Trust, The Portrack Charitable Trust, The Mickel Trust, The Monument Trust, The Robertson Trust, The William
Syson Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation, and many more trusts and individual donors.
We are in the final stages of our fundraising to secure the remaining £397,000 needed to allow the project to start on site.
How can you help?
We have only a few months left to raise the remaining £397,000 funding needed to allow us to appoint the main
contractor for the works so that they can get underway. If we do not succeed, the building's fragile and important fabric
may not survive another winter.
Can you help us raise the final amount and achieve our goal to transform this much loved building?
If you would like to find out more about the Patrick Geddes Centre or make a donation to the capital project please
contact us on 0131 220 1232 or email [email protected]. Alternatively you can give online on our website
www.shbt.org.uk via PayPal.
www.shbt.org.uk
Charity No: SC034507
THE PATRICK GEDDES CENTRE, RIDDLE’S COURT, EDINBURGH
Timeline for Riddle’s Court
1584
Baillie John McMorran begins buying property to the south of the High Street
1587
Date on the courtyard lintol and when John McMorran completes purchase of all the land he needs to be able to construct Riddle's Court
1590
John McMorran declares that he is to build a new house to be 'bigget for the decoratioun of that part of the toun'
1595
John McMorran killed by a schoolboy, William Sinclair at the Royal High School, then based on a site in Infirmary Street
1598
King James VI hosts a banquet here for the Duke of Holbein. A painted ceiling dates from this time and commemorates the occasion
1612
The Convention of the Royal Burghs meets here
1616
Alexander Seton recorded as a tenant in the building. By this time, he was Lord Chancellor of Scotland and Earl of Dunfermline
1620?
Possible date for the decorative plaster ceiling, which shares motifs and patterns with other ceilings erected for Alexander Seton
1622?
Earl of Lauderdale takes over as tenant from the Earl of Dunfermline, possibly after Seton dies on 16 June 1622.
1630
Sir John Smith acquires the apartment formerly occupied by Alexander Seton and the Earl of Lauderdale is evicted
1665
John Clerk of Penicuik begins to buy up the Smith family bonds that were secured against property and his son, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik
forecloses on Sir John Smith in 1676 and receives title to all of Smith’s lands to the south of the High Street, including Riddle's Court
1684
Sir John Clerk sells on these lands to Roderick MacKenzie of Prestonhall
1702
Roderick MacKenzie sells part of the property to his brother George, later 1st Earl of Cromarty, who dispones it to his wife, Margaret,
Countess of Wemyss
1714
Anna, Duchess of Buccleuch acquires property at Riddle's Court on the death of her half-sister, Margaret, Countess of Wemyss
1751-63
David Hume takes up residence in Riddle's Close
1836-7
Projecting jambs to the south of the building and the gardens are removed by the construction of Victoria Street, and the south elevation rebuilt
1854
The Mechanic Subscription Library moves into the building
1881
Census recorded 247 occupants living in Riddle’s Court
1889
Patrick Geddes starts to acquire the building and opens it as a hall of residence for university students in 1890
1897
Heraldic ceiling painted by Thomas Bonnar in the students' dining room
1935
Fet-Lor, Scotland's oldest youth group, operate from the building to help destitute children living locally
1946
City of Edinburgh Corporation acquires the building
1966
Riddle’s Court opens as a community education centre
1975
WEA move their offices into the building, which they continue to occupy to the present day
1979
Stephen Fry directs and performs his play Latin, or Tobacco and Boys with the Cambridge Mummers which wins a Fringe First Award
2011
SHBT move their offices into the building
2015
Construction work starts on site to repair and improve access to the building
2017
Building re-opens as the Patrick Geddes Centre
Riddle’s Court, 322 Lawnmarket,
Edinburgh, EH1 2PG
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- www.shbt.org.uk
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