Gayfield House

Now incongruously located between modern blocks on East London Street in Edinburgh, Gayfield House dates from 1763 and is located a half-mile (0.8 km) northeast of the city. The house comprises two storeys and a basement, which now forms a separate flat. The central three of the five bays stand forward below a pediment. The walls were originally harled. Inside, the drawing room retains a Rococo plaster ceiling.

Built as a stylish country mansion by Charles and William Butters for Lord Thomas Erskine, son of John Erskine, the 6th Earl of Mar (1675 - 1732), who led the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. In 1767, Gayfield House was bought by David Melville, 6th Earl of Leven (1722 - 1802) and his sister Elizabeth married John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun (1704-81), here in the same year. In 1874, the house was sold to become a Veterinary College, a competitor to the one set up by William Dick (1793 - 1866). The College continued here for 30 years. The house was A-listed in 1965.

Its once attractive grounds, surrounded by fields and orchards were taken over by an expanding city by the early 20th C. through industrial and residential development. Lothian Buses Headquarters and Central Depot is now located behind, occupying a building constructed for the Edinburgh Exhibition Association in 1922.


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