Regrets, I've had A Few....

....and one of them is my omission to take photographs of Craighouse before the developers moved in and barricaded the buildings.

Nevertheless we took a walk round as close as the Heras fencing would allow, to catch a few photos for the record. This is the southern aspect of Old Craighouse, which despite a lintel dated 1565, dates from some time later. It was built for the Symsounes of Craighouse, then, belonging to the Dick family, was extended to the northwest around 1746. The extra is a view from the northeast.

In 1878 Craig House was purchased by the managers of the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum and in 1889 work began on the large main building, a hospital block, and three detached villas, buildings designed to give the appearance of a hydropathic hotel, complete by 1894, to accommodate paying patients.

In 1994, Edinburgh Napier University purchased the estate,  opening the new campus in 1996; in 2011, they sold the campus for residential development. A consortium formed by Edinburgh Napier University, Mountgrange and Sundial Properties "for the purpose of undertaking development on the estate  comprising renovation of the existing buildings and extensive residential new build throughout the grounds of the estate, totaling approximately 116 new units". 

It must be said that the extent of newbuild has created much local opposition as the estate is popular for recreational amenity, quite apart from the visual and social impact on the area. At present it would appear that the development will be restricted to the existing buildings with newbuild confined to previous carpark and approach areas.