Casas de colonia

Las casas de la colonia de Edimburgo fueron construidas entre 1850 y 1910 como viviendas para artesanos y familias trabajadoras cualificadas por compañías filantrópicas de viviendas modelo . El primer proyecto fue el de los Edificios Modelo Pilrig, cerca de Leith Walk . ^{[ 1 ]} Posteriormente, la Edinburgh Cooperative Building Company Limited , fundada en 1861, construyó otros proyectos en toda la ciudad. Los fundadores de esta compañía estuvieron influenciados por el reverendo Dr. James Begg y el reverendo Dr. Thomas Chalmers , ministros de la Iglesia Libre de Escocia , quienes hicieron campaña para mejorar las condiciones de vivienda de los pobres. ^{[ 2 ]}

En Edimburgo se pueden encontrar calles con casas coloniales en diez ubicaciones:

• Abbeyhill
• Dalry Place, Haymarket
• Enlaces de Leith , Leith
• Carretera de Lochend, Lochend
• Calle North Fort, Leith
• Cabañas Rosebank, Fountainbridge
• Colonias Shaw, Pilrig
• Shandon
• Slateford
• Stockbridge

Los complejos residenciales de Stockbridge, Dalry, Shaw Colonies y Rosebank Cottages son edificios catalogados de categoría B. ^{[ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]}

Como era de esperar, cada apartamento originalmente tenía cuatro habitaciones, un baño exterior independiente y un jardín. Las casas de la colonia se construían como apartamentos dobles, uno superior y otro inferior, con la puerta de entrada del apartamento superior en el lado opuesto a la del inferior, lo que permitía que cada apartamento tuviera un jardín delantero.

En algunas zonas, muchos propietarios de pisos superiores en casas adosadas han convertido sus áticos en viviendas adicionales, lo que ha dado como resultado propiedades que recuerdan a las casas coloniales. En algunas zonas residenciales, como Colinton Mains en Edimburgo, la mayoría de estas viviendas se han reformado debido a los elevados precios de los inmuebles en comparación con el coste de la reforma.

En 1849, el reverendo William Garden Blaikie , ministro de Pilrig , fundó la Pilrig Model Dwellings Company para construir viviendas para la clase trabajadora. ^{[ 5 ]} El arquitecto Patrick Wilson diseñó el proyecto de 44 casas en cuatro bloques , que se construyó entre 1850 y 1851. Originalmente conocidas como los Edificios Modelo de Pilrig, las calles fueron renombradas como Shaw's Place, Shaw's Street y Shaw's Terrace en 1896. ^{[ 1 ]}

The second development was at Rosebank Cottages, and was designed by architect Alexander MacGregor for Sir James Gowans.^[1] The 36 houses in three rows were based on the Pilrig model, though they added the external stair which is characteristic of the later colonies.

In 1861, a group of builders found themselves locked out of their building sites due to a dispute about working hours. Their three-month ban led to the formation of The Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company Ltd (ECBC). This group comprised many different trades - stonemasons, plasterers, plumbers and others sympathetic to their aims. Central to its mission was a co-operative spirit that was reflected in its adoption of the beehive motif. The company's first site was at Glenogle Park, by the Water of Leith near Stockbridge, where the foundation stone was laid on 23 October 1861.^[3] The layout of 11 terraces took the Rosebank development as its prototype, and was mostly complete by 1872.^[1]

While the building lock out provided the opportunity for tradesmen to form a company, it was the poor state of housing in the old town which was the underlying stimulus for the foundation of the ECBC, whose stated intention was to build houses for sale to working people. A newspaper from 1870 reports:

"The entire capital [of the Company] is subscribed by 836 members, 400 houses supplying healthful accommodation for at least 2,000 individuals, have been built and sold for £70,000; and an average profit of over 15 per cent has been paid every year."^[7]

ECBC also constructed the Dalry Colonies at Haymarket, from 1868 to 1870, largely to house the employees of the Caledonian Railway.^[1] By 1911 over 2,000 houses had been constructed on eleven sites. Many were owned by the artisan classes in an era when mortgages did not exist. The earliest residents of the colonies were skilled workers and artisan builders and this remained the largest occupational group for much of the 20th century. The Abbeyhill colonies in particular had a number of railway workers due to the proximity of the area to the line. Persistence of inhabitants was also a key feature of colony life, which made for stable neighbourhoods. The design of the buildings did result in a certain amount of overlooking and gossiping, but this feature has also contributed to a sense of identity and community that is quite unique in Edinburgh.

• Cottage flat
• Rutherglen#Farme Cross, examples of same building style
• List of existing model dwellings

• Richard Rodger (1999) Vivienda para la gente: las colonias de Edimburgo . Ayuntamiento de Edimburgo en colaboración con RCAHMS . ISBN 0-905072-89-8

• Contenido multimedia relacionado con las casas coloniales en Wikimedia Commons.
• Colonias de Edimburgo - edinburgharchitecture.co.uk