Real Homes pull-out: A chance to own a piece of Edinburgh’s skyline

A chance to own a prime piece of Edinburgh’s cityscape, Property of the Week

Ramsay Garden is a building that is both very Edinburgh, and very un-edinburgh. The iconic red and white building, prominent on the city skyline, started out as an octagonal house built by the poet and wig-maker Allan Ramsay the Elder in 1733 but was developed into its current form in 1893 by urban planner and botanist Patrick Geddes.

He hoped to attract wealthy buyers to the Old Town area, and to create a better class of student accommodation.

The 16 apartments have undergone a great deal of change since then, but their Gothic aesthetic is maintained by their listed status, as they face down the symmetrical Georgian facades of the New Town on the other side of Princes Street Gardens.

Nick Butcher bought a top-floor flat at Ramsay Garden two years ago, but has put his own stamp on it. A vet by profession, he was looking for a base in Edinburgh but says the original apartment had a configuration which presented potential for redevelopment.

He says: “The building was designed as four levels of two-bedroomed flats, but at some point the third-floor flat was split into two, and part of it was combined with the flat above.”

What it formed was a three-bedroomed flat over two levels, with both internal and communal stairs. Butcher recalls: “It was quite bizarre because the downstairs had a kitchen with no window, a huge sitting room and a bathroom.

“Internal stairs took you up to three bedrooms shoved into the layout without a great deal of thought.

“The master bedroom had an ensuite bathroom and off that was the terrace. So to get to it you had to go through the bedroom and the bathroom – an absolute waste of a fantastic feature.”

Butcher has experience in property development, mostly the commercial area of veterinary surgeries, but he has carried out residential projects for himself, so thought that there was a much better way to make use of the apartment.

He says: “I thought about turning the accommodation upside down, but splitting it into two made more sense.”

Doing so also made the two flats much more likely to appeal to the type of purchasers interested in Ramsay Garden. As Butcher concedes, there aren’t many owner-occupiers in the block, so most apartments are investments or used as

pied-à-terres and second homes. Smaller properties are much more popular in this part of the city.

He says: “Creating a one-bedroomed flat that is really spacious ticks a lot of boxes because an owner could use it for longer stays or you could fit in a sofa bed in the lounge quite comfortably to appeal to holidaymakers.”

Inside, the approach to the flat is via a wide staircase lit from above, with an original frieze on either wall depicting the University of Edinburgh crest – harking back to the building’s time as student accommodation.

The third-floor apartment has a goodsized open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge area. The kitchen appliances are integrated and include an induction hob, electric oven and grill, dishwasher and fridge freezer. Next to the living area, the generous master bedroom has large traditional windows. There’s a stylish bathroom with built-in storage.

The finish is high quality because initially Butcher didn’t know which of the two apartments he wanted to keep and which he was going to sell.

“When I started, I planned to keep the smaller flat and sell the larger, and it wasn’t until the project was almost complete that I decided to keep the top one. So both have oak flooring and under-floor heating. The whole project was a cost-effective way for me to end up with a flat but I’m sure a developer would say that I have spent too much on a property I was going to sell.”

The flat for sale is really spacious with beautiful big windows to the south, facing towards the castle.

Outside, the residents’ gardens offer a landscaped space with a gate to Ramsay Lane. The gardens are maintained by a gardener and make for a lovely picnicking spot open only to residents.

It is a very private spot for one of the most photographed buildings in Edinburgh.

At some point the third floor flat was split into two, and part of it was combined with the flat above with an internal staircase