Description

Alexander Lorne Campbell, 1895; additions and alterations, RD Cameron & Gibb, 1980. Single storey, 5-bay, rectangular-plan, Arts and Crafts style former sports pavilion to N of recreation ground; with steeply-pitched gambrel roof. Brick base course, structural timber framed elevations with harling and painted timber. 5-bay SW (principal) elevation with tripartite windows in outer bays, 3-bay loggia to centre divided by timber columns (1 brace remaining), door and further windows within. Tripartite windows to side elevations (part blocked). Later flat-roofed extension to rear.

Multi-pane glazing. Grey-green slate roof with ventilating louvres to gablehead of gambrel and red clay ridge tiles. Exposed rafter ends at eaves.

INTERIOR: (seen 2000). Boarded dado, coomb ceiling. Brick hood to former chimneypiece (now blocked). Altered to include further WC and extended with store 1980.

Statement of Interest

Rare example of a late nineteenth century small scale former golf clubhouse which retains good original architectural details to the interior and exterior. The building was the first clubhouse for the Craigmillar Park Golf Club, constituted in 1895. The club was unusual in having no restrictions on membership and was open to women players and to visiting women's and mixed clubs from the outset. The pavilion is in its original form and has not been substantially extended.

Scotland is intrinsically linked with the sport of golf and it was the birthplace of the modern game played over 18 holes. The 'Articles and Laws in Playing Golf', a set of rules whose principles still underpin the game's current regulations, were penned in 1744 by the Company of Gentlemen Golfers (now The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers). Improved transport links and increased leisure time as well as a rise in the middle classes from the mid 19th century onwards increased the popularity of the sport with another peak taking place in the early 1900s.

The sociable aspect of the game encouraged the building of distinctive clubhouses with bar and restaurant facilities. Purpose-built clubhouses date from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, previously clubs had used villas or rooms in an inn near to the course. Earlier clubhouses were typically enlarged in stages as the popularity of the game increased throughout the 19th and 20th century.

Craigmillar Park Golf Club course was a nine hole course constructed on the lands of the Gilmours of Liberton and Craigmillar. Encouraged by the success of the feuing of the adjacent area of Mayfield, Sir Robert Gordon-Gilmour embarked in about 1870 on a feuing plan that would extend the villa development southwards into his own lands. However Gilmour's East Craigmillar Park scheme was slow to feu behind the main road, resulting in Gilmour leasing all the remaining unfeued land in early 1895 to form a 9-hole golf course, to which he became honorary president. This was a time of rapid growth in golf and the new club advertised its accessibility by train and tram for city workers. The success of membership recruitment (300 at the time of the pavilion opening) resulted in a need for a clubhouse, which was opened on 5 October 1895.

In 1904 renewed feuing led to the loss of one of the fairways, and consequently the club moved to its present location, off Observatory Road, Edinburgh Blackford Hill in 1907.

The pavilion was sold to the Edinburgh Northern Hockey Club, but was also used by other sports clubs and a local school, until 1995 as changing rooms. The pavilion was designed by Alexander Lorne Campbell (1871-1944), a founding member of the Craigmillar Park Golf Club and brother of the Club's President, Archibald Campbell. Alexander Lorne Campbell commenced independent practice in July 1896, but he is best known for his partnership with John Nichol Scott formed in 1899. The practice was renowned for their ecclesiastical work and Campbell went on to be consulting architect to the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland. The Crawford Road pavilion is his earlier recorded independent commission.

Listed building record updated as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13). Listed building record updated, 2014.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77774678

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings