Craig House is a historic house and estate located on Easter Craiglockhart Hill, between the

Craiglockhart Craiglockhart (; gd, Creag Longairt) is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east, and Longstone and Kingsknowe to the west. The Water of Leith ...

and Morningside areas of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Old Craig House dates from the 16th century, and succeeded an earlier building. In the late 19th century it was purchased by the

Royal Edinburgh Hospital The Royal Edinburgh Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Morningside Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lothian. History The "foundational myth" has it that the hospital was founded by Dr Andrew Duncan, the elder, Andrew Duncan ...

, and the site was developed as Craig House Hospital, a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

, including substantial new buildings. Following refurbishment, the site was opened in 1996 as the Craighouse Campus of

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

History

Craig House is recorded in the reign of

King David II David II (5 March 1324 – 22 February 1371) was King of Scots from 1329 until his death in 1371. Upon the death of his father, Robert the Bruce, David succeeded to the throne at the age of five, and was crowned at Scone in November 1331, becom ...

, and in 1528 the

Abbot of Newbattle The Abbot of Newbattle (later Commendator of Newbattle) was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Newbattle Abbey, Midlothian. It was founded by David I of Scotland in 1140. List of abbots * Radulf, 1140-1147x1150 * Amfrid, 1159-1179 ...

granted a charter here. The original house was burned down by the

Earl of Hertford Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

in 1544, during the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Roman Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the ...

Old Craig House

The present Old Craig House is dated 1565, although the architecture suggests a later date. It was built for the Symsounes of Craighouse. It later belonged to the Dick family, and was extended to the north-west around 1746. The historian

John Hill Burton John Hill Burton FRSE (22 August 1809 – 10 August 1881) was a Scottish advocate, historian and economist. The author of ''Life and Correspondence of David Hume'', he was secretary of the Scottish Prison Board (1854–77), and Historiograph ...

(1809–1881) lived at Craig House. There is a monument commemorating his son WK Burton's contribution to Japan at the garden wall. In the 1880s it was described as "a weird-looking mansion, alleged to be ghost-haunted" in Cassell's ''Old and New Edinburgh''.

Craig House Hospital

In the 1880s, Dr Thomas Clouston, Physician Superintendent of the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum (later the

), oversaw the purchase of Craig House by the managers of the Asylum in 1878. The site was intended for paying patients, and development was funded through the sale of land at the existing Asylum in Morningside. The new buildings at Craig House were planned by Clouston, and designed under the control of architect

Sydney Mitchell Arthur George Sydney Mitchell (7 January 1856 – 13 October 1930) was a Scottish architect. He designed a large number of bank branches, country houses, churches, and church halls. His most significant commissions include the housing develop ...

in 1887 (whose father Dr Arthur Mitchell was on the board of directors at the asylum). The actual job architect responsible for the design was Charles Henry Greig rather than Mitchell himself, despite Mitchell being widely credited for the design. Work began in 1889 on the large main building, a hospital block, and three detached villas, all of which were complete by 1894. The main building, New Craig House, was intentionally grand, resembling a country house or hotel rather than an institution, and is reminiscent of the Viceregal lodge in Shimla. It is designed in a

picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

"free Renaissance" style, with elements taken from

French Renaissance architecture French Renaissance architecture is a style which was prominent between the late 15th and early 17th centuries in the Kingdom of France. It succeeded French Gothic architecture. The style was originally imported from Italy after the Hundred Years ...

. The interiors include a great hall and a

billiard room A billiard room (also billiards room, or more specifically pool room, snooker room) is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table. (The term "billiard room" or "pool room" may also be us ...

. From 1906 to 1914 work was executed by Mitchell's assistant

Ernest Auldjo Jamieson Ernest Arthur Oliphant Auldjo Jamieson FRIBA MID (1880–1937) was a Scottish architect operating in the early 20th century. He specialised in country houses, largely for wealthy family friends. From after the First World War he also got many com ...

(acting as sole partner from 1909). The hospital was renamed the Thomas Clouston Clinic in 1972 but, after the introduction of

Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...

in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in the early 1990s.

Craighouse Campus

In 1994,

purchased the estate, and commenced a £14 million refurbishment, funded by a Historic Building Grant. The new campus opened in September 1996. The campus was home to the social science and communication arts courses, as well as the Ian Tomlin School of Music. In March 2011, Edinburgh Napier University sold the campus for residential development, and had moved out completely by 2013. The students and staff who were based at the Craighouse campus were moved to

's Sighthill, Merchiston and Craiglockhart campuses.

Redevelopment

The Craighouse estate had been acquired by Mountgrange Real Estate Opportunity Fund (MoREOF) through Craighouse Limited (Isle of Man) with the MoREOF fund being administered by Mountgrange Investment Management LLP. A consortium was formed by Edinburgh Napier University, Mountgrange and Sundial Properties for the purpose of undertaking development on the estate. The planned development comprised renovation of the existing buildings and extensive residential new build throughout the grounds of the estate, totaling approximately 116 new units. Craighouse main building

The proposals as advanced by The Craighouse Partnership met with considerable opposition due to the plans to build on the open green space within the estate. The Friends of Craighouse, a campaign group opposing any new build at Craighouse, collected some 5,000 signatures on a petition against new build development. However, the development went ahead and the first residents moved into the building in July 2019.

Notable inmates

John Ross McKay John Ross McKay RIBA (1884–1962) was a 20th-century Scottish architect. He was also President of the Clan MacKay Society. He gives his name to the J R McKay Medal for architectural students. His work covers a diverse range: from villas to ma ...

architect, died here in 1962

Notes

References

* {{authority control Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Edinburgh Napier University History of Edinburgh Former psychiatric hospitals in Scotland Reportedly haunted locations in Edinburgh Defunct hospitals in Scotland