Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/545

 MORAY HOUSE 529 FOURTH PERIOD with flat roofs, provided with parapets and balustrades ; at Innes House the chimneys are detached, and the tower is square, and is crowned with a parapet of unusual design ; while at Heriot's Hospital a Renaissance style is introduced, in which few traces of the old Scottish remain, and which savours rather of Germany than of England. MORAY HOUSE, EDINBURGH. Moray House is situated on the south side of the Canongate, Edin- burgh, not far from Holyrood Palace. It is most fortunately preserved comparatively intact as one of the schools connected with the Free Church. It presents a frontage to the street (Fig. 952) of about 135 feet, from which the entrance is through a picturesque gateway with massive rounded pillars surmounted by lofty triangular obelisks of very remark- able design. Entering the courtyard by this gateway, on the right hand is the Porter's Lodge, and the house itself on the left, while immediately in front the grounds extend southwards for about 160 yards. This was formerly the garden connected with the house, and is said to have been in olden times a most delightful retreat. It is now occupied with various class-rooms and playgrounds. The house has been the work of two periods (Fig. 953), and on the first floor plan we have shown the oldest part in black, and the second part in hatched lines. It is quite possible the hatched part to the south, including the staircase, may be a little later than the corresponding part towards the street. The latter addition is three stories high, while the other parts of the house are two stories in height, the extra story being gained by the rapid slope of the ground towards the south. The straight stair leading to this story may be seen on the plan. The turret stair projecting into the courtyard formed the access to the upper floor of the original house. One would expect to find the entrance in this turret, and it is so shown in some old prints, in the position in which the window on the ground plan now is. But it was not possible for the door to have been in this face of the octagon on account of the steps inside. The foot of the stair is the usual place for the entrance door in houses of this period, and it is most likely that it was placed in that position here, viz., in the south face of the octagon, where there would be ample head-room for it. The present entrance doorway is certainly not original. It very much resembles in design the one in the thick wall at the opposite end of the entrance hall leading to the staircase, which is undoubtedly a later addition, being an insertion when the new wing was built. The proba- bility is that the present entrance hall was the original kitchen, which supposition explains the meaning of the great thickness of the eastern wall above referred to, which is 6 feet 9 inches in thickness, or about VOL. ii. 2 L