Page 124 - Homes & Interiors Scotland

MURPHY’S

LAW

An award-winning new home

breaks all the rules of what
is possible in a small city-

centre space

Words Catherine Coyle Photography Keith Hunter

ll architects want to build their own homes.
Or so believes Richard Murphy, owner
of one of the most striking addi tions to
the Edinburgh cityscape in recent years.
The project very nearly did not get off the
A ground, though. Edinburgh City Council’s
planning department had recommended that his application be
refused. Keen to fight, and armed with a thorough knowledge
of the city’s architectural and planning history, Murphy – who
in 2007 was appointed an OBE for his services to architecture –
pursued the application.
“It was very perplexing,” he recalls. “I decided to lobby some
councillors and a couple of them backed me and what I was
trying to do. We went along to the meeting and, somehow, we
won the vote nine to four!” To win against the planning recom-
men dation for refusal is a rare occurrence – but then everything
about this build is unusual.
The house is on Hart Street at the eastern end of the New
Town and within the boundary of the city’s World Heritage site.
It sits in an open space between the rear of homes on Forth Street
and the gable end of Hart Street’s houses. Extensive research
had revealed to Murphy that the site rested on the boundary
between two Edinburgh estates – Picardy and Gayfield – but

HOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLAND