Inverleith House is a historic house, now within the Royal Botanic Garden, in the suburb of

Inverleith Inverleith (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Lìte'') is an inner suburb in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. Its neighbours include Trinity, Edinburgh, Trinity to the north a ...

, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland.

History

Inverleith House was designed in 1773 by David Henderson and built for James Rocheid in 1774. In about 1820 a part of the Inverleith estate was sold to become the Royal Botanic Garden. The house was bought by the city in 1877 together with another part of the estate and, after restoration work following a fire, became the official residence of the Regius Keeper (director) of the Royal Botanic Garden. From 1960 it housed the new

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art National Galleries Scotland: Modern (the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) is part of National Galleries Scotland, which is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Modern houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1 ...

, which in 1984 moved to the building of the former

John Watson's Institution The John Watson's Institution was a school established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1762. The building was designed in the Greek Revival style in 1825 by architect William Burn, FRSE (1789–1870). Following the closure of the school in 1975, th ...

on Belford Road.Fletcher, Harold R., Brown William H, The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Edinburgh, 1970, pp 256 On 4 December 1970 the house was listed as a

historic building This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

in category B, with

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

id 28081.Inverleith House (gallery of Modern Art) Arboretum Road and Inverleith Row, Edinburgh
British Listed Buildings. Accessed March 2015. An extension was built in 1974. Since 1986 the house has been used as exhibition space by the Royal Botanic Garden. Exhibitions of

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

are held there. It was refurbished in 1990 and again in 2004, with support from National Lottery Funds administered by The Scottish Arts Council, which also supports the exhibitions programme.

References

{{Residential buildings in Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Art museums and galleries in Edinburgh Contemporary art galleries in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Houses in Edinburgh Houses completed in 1774 1774 establishments in Scotland