Pilrig House

Category

Library Item

Item no

36236

Title

Page from Leith Miscellany, volume II, Pilrig House

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1986

Pilrig House originally stood in countryside between Edinburgh and Leith and today stands on the edge of Pilrig Park. Pilrig House was built in 1638 for an Edinburgh goldsmith, Gilbert Kirkwood. The Balfour family lived in it from 1718 to 1941, when they gave it to the City of Edinburgh. Robert Louis Stevenson’s grandfather, Lewis Balfour, was born in the house in 1777 and it is mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Catriona. In 1971, Pilrig House was largely destroyed by fire, but in the 1980s the house was restored and converted into flats.

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