Lady Stair's House
| Lady Stair's House | |
| Midlothian | |
|---|---|
 Lady Stair's House | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NT25557360 |
| Location: | 55°56’59"N, 3°11’37"W |
| City: | Edinburgh |
| History | |
| Address: | Lady Stair's Close |
| Town house | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to a museum |
Lady Stair's House is a 17th-century townhouse in Lady Stair's Close, off the Lawnmarket, in Edinburgh's Old Town. It now houses the Writers' Museum, dedicated to the lives and works of various Scottish literary greats.
The house was built in 1622 for Sir William Gray of Pittendrum and his wife Giles (née Smith). It was known as 'Lady Gray's House', as she resided there for several years after her husband's death. A lintel above the door bears the date of construction and the initials WG and GS, along with a coat of arms and the motto "feare the Lord and depart from evill".
The present name derives from Elizabeth Dalrymple, Dowager Countess of Stair, who acquired the house in 1719. It remained in the possession of the Dalrymple family until 1765, after which it passed through the hands of a succession of owners. In 1895, at the suggestion of the town planner and preservationist Patrick Geddes, the house was purchased by Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, a descendant of the original occupants. Rosebery commissioned the architect George Shaw Aitken to conduct a thorough restoration of the building, and presented it to the city of Edinburgh in 1907.[1][2] Since then it has been used as a museum, first of civic history and then of literary history.[3]
The house is a Category A listed building.[4]
Gallery
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The house in 1972 -
Entrance to the house -
Panel showing the arms of the Earls of Stair and Rosebery -
Panel showing the dates of construction and reconstruction -
Upper storey and balcony
References
- ↑ Geddie, John (1925). "The Sculptured Stones of the 'Royal Mile'". The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club 14: 49–100 [76]. https://oldedinburghclub.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Book-of-Old-Edinburgh-Club-1925-vol-14.pdf.
- ↑ Whitson, Thomas B. (1910). "Lady Stair's House". The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club 3: 243-252. https://archive.org/details/bookofoldedinbur3191olde/page/243.
- ↑ Heal, Sharon (13 November 2009). Tales of the city. https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/reviews/2009/11/15092-2/.
- ↑ Lawnmarket, Lady Stair's Close, Lady Stair's House (Category A) - Listing detail (Historic Environment Scotland)