Craig House

Craig House stands on Easter Craiglockhart Hill, between Craiglockhart and Morningside in Edinburgh. Old Craig House dates from the 16th century and replaced an earlier building destroyed in 1544. In the late 19th century the Royal Edinburgh Hospital bought the estate and built Craig House Hospital. The hospital closed in the early 1990s after the introduction of Care in the Community. Edinburgh Napier University later used the site as its Craighouse Campus until 2013. The present Old Craig House was built in 1565 for the Symsounes of Craighouse. The Dick family extended it around 1746, and historian John Hill Burton lived there in the 19th century. Dr Thomas Clouston oversaw the hospital’s creation in the 1880s, with architect Sydney Mitchell designing the main block. The interiors include a great hall and a billiard room in free Renaissance style. A monument in the garden wall honours WK Burton’s work in Japan. Visitors find the restored Old Craig House and the Victorian New Craig House on a 24-hectare estate. The grounds contain substantial new buildings from the 1890s, including three detached villas. After the university left, the estate was redeveloped for residential use. The Friends of Craighouse opposed new building on the open green space. The first residents moved into the new homes in 2019.