Craig House

Old Craig House, the pink building at the front of the picture, dates back to 1565 when it was built for the Symsounes of Craig House. It replaced an even earlier building that was burnt down by the Earl of Hertford during 1544. Later on, when owned by the Dick family, it was extended during 1746. Noted historian John Hill Burton lived there in the 1800s.


In the 1880s Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum purchased Old Craig House and its land. They built New Craig House, the larger building with the tower at the rear in my photo. Construction was finished in 1894 on the main building, three outlying smaller villas and a hospital block. All were used for wealthy paying patients and served to give them comfortable upper-class environs reminiscent of a grand hotel in which to stay whilst being treated.


The Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum became The Royal Edinburgh Hospital and was taken under management of the NHS on that organisation’s formation. Craig House site was renamed ‘The Thomas Coulson Clinic’ in 1972, then closed and sold by the NHS in the early 1990s. The Royal Edinburgh Hospital still operates at their large premises in Morningside.


Napier University purchased the land and buildings in 1994 and operated them as a campus (during which time I got to see inside both New and Old Craig House) from 1994 until selling it to a consortium of developers in 2011. University use was run down after this and the site was disused from 2013.



Come 2014 the developers received permission for their plans to convert existing buildings for residential use and build new residential structures on the site. These plans faced strong opposition by local residents, not because of the conversion of existing buildings but due to the loss of green space and open land that will occur following the new builds. Any factual errors in this write-up are entirely my fault. 


I had to take this photo across the road and over a security hoarding as there's no public access to the site anymore. 

***EDIT*** Since taking this blip I've found out from a Legobuddy there actually is pedestrian access to the site further down the road. I'll be back...