Shine a light on period proportions

Kirsty Mcluckie finds traditional city flats can offer all the bright space a buyer could want

For lovers of light and space a city flat isn’t the first property type that springs to mind. But the period homes of the Georgian and Victorian eras in Edinburgh offer incredibly spacious rooms which dwarf standard modern homes.

Knight Frank is selling a top-floor flat in Warrender Park Drive, which selling agent Emma Bailey points out is a unique proposition.

“It was originally an artist’s studio,” she says. “The renowned Victorian painter Duncan Cameron asked the architect who designed the terrace to adapt the plans for a top floor flat to suit his needs.”

The resulting expansive third-floor flat has at its heart an incredible floor-to-highceiling window which floods the whole room with light.

The current owners have made this room a living room, dining room and kitchen and the space feels modern, despite the flat being packed with period features.

Bailey says: “The rest of the flat is lovely too, a traditional large Victorian tenement, but the main living room and kitchen is something special. It is certainly a surprise when you walk in.”

Eton Terrace, equidistant between Stockbridge and the West End, is one of Edinburgh’s finest examples of mid-19th century classical urban architecture.

Savills is marketing No 6, which forms the principal part of an Italianate townhouse built in 1855.

This beautifully-proportioned apartment is arranged over two floors and has undergone a remarkable restoration making the most of the space and the light with the spare style of a Swedish townhouse.

The ground floor features an airy dining kitchen, with a bay window and door out to the larch veranda and west-facing walled garden.

Upstairs, the drawing room has three floor-to-ceiling windows and a full-width stone balcony looking out over the Dean Valley and beyond to the Firth of Forth.

Ben Fox of Savills says: “It must be one of this year’s most impressive properties and worthy of any interiors magazine.”

Manor Place is a classic Georgian New Town street and a second-floor apartment for sale with Strutt & Parker, at No 17, has traditional proportions but again, has been opened with an archway between the kitchen and dining room to allow light to flood through the interior.

The result is the best of both worlds, classic period proportions with an impressively modern feel.

The flat is a traditional Victorian tenement, but the kitchen is something special. It is certainly a surprise when you walk in