A simple but beautiful colour scheme unifies this converted Edinburgh mansion house
Edinburgh’s history is seductive. Tourists can’t get enough of the castle. They love that Downton Abbey feeling of walking along cobbled streets, peering in through latticed windows and wondering what went on in the servants’ quarters. And that history is just as seductive for natives of the city, particularly those who have left for a more modern metropolis. Jane and Eddie Gray knew this feeling. They were living and working amid the sci-fi skyscrapers of Shanghai, but longed for a home in Scotland that they could return to.
The search, once it began, was brief: when you come across a property of the calibre of the one they fell in love with, there’s little point in keeping looking. Jane had made the trip from China to Scotland to recce prospective homes in the capital’s New Town. Passing through the conservation area of Murrayfield on her way there, she was impressed by its leafy, suburban atmosphere so close to the city centre.
The apartment she found there is part of, a B-listed Georgian-style manor house. Jane and Eddie were won over by its private access, extensive gardens and private parking. The grandeur of the building sealed the deal, giving them the right mix of history and modernity. The villa had been built in 1846 by Edinburgh architects R&R Dixon who were well practised in the city’s Georgian heritage. Symmetry, proportion and scale were all perfected here; even 170 years on, despite now being divided up into smaller homes, the house is just as desirable as it was the day it was built.
This is just a taster, you can browse the full article with more stunning photography on pages 198-208, issue 106.
DETAILS
Photography Neale Smith
Words Catherine Coyle
Art Direction Gillian Welsh
What A two-bedroom apartment
Where Murrayfield
Interior Designer Louise Bramhill
