There was a house on the site of Malta House when Donald Cameron purchased the property in 1804. During his tenure the house was expanded and altered. It was altered again later in the nineteenth century. The rental value in 1875 was £130, more than four times the rent in 1865, suggesting substantial alterations during Alex. Kedslie’s occupancy.
Around this time, Malta House was described as “a quiet retired residence, occupying the ground lying in front of Malta Terrace. It was a two-storeyed house with attics and outhouses. The Water of Leith flowed behind it, and the house was pleasantly situated in the middle of a grass plot. In front there was a stone pedestal bearing the bust of a female figure. On all sides Malta House was surrounded by a young plantation of evergreens and shrubbery.”1
When Malta House was put up for sale in 1906 the property was described as 2,744 square yards (2,294 m2) with frontages on St Bernard’s Row and Malta Terrace, with a ‘valuable and substantially constructed dwelling house’ in first-class condition with three public rooms, nine bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, washhouse and laundry. The property also included stables, coachhouses poultry houses and lofts.2
Having stood empty for two years, Malta House was acquired by the Church of Scotland Committee on Social Work in 1908 to be premises for a labour home for men. The Labour Home at Malta House was officially opened by Lord Rosebery on 04 December 1908.3 When the 1911 census was taken the Labour Home housed 31 men ranging in age from 20 to 69 years.
After the second world war Malta House became a home for older men. The 1945 electoral register lists 30 men at Malta House. In 1957 it was converted to a home for deprived children.4 In the late 1970s it became a residential home for people recovering from alcohol addiction. Malta House was later leased to the Lothians and Edinburgh Assistance Programme (LEAP) before being sold by the Church of Scotland Committee on Social Work in 2013.
- Donald Cameron
- Henry William Baynes
- Robert Fraser
- John Gillot
- Robert Stewart
- Malta House Academy
- Thomas Dickson
- William Smith
- John Mitchelson
- Joseph Dods
- Archibald Geikie
- George Home
- William Wilson
- John Logan
- Alexander Bennet
- Robert Mackenzie Stark
- Alfred Wright
- Alexander Kedslie
- James Muirhead
- William G Muirhead
- Tom Murray
- George Boughtwood
- Peter Glen
References
- Hill, Cumberland (1887) Historic Memorials & Reminiscences of Stockbridge. Second edition. Edinburgh: Robert Somerville. p. 20.
- Advertisements. The Scotsman. 03 January 1906. p. … https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed …
- The Scotsman. 04 December 1908. p. 5, col. 3. https://britishnespaperarchive.co.uk: accessed …
- Edinburgh Evening News. 04 July 1957, p. 4, col. 10. https://britishnespaperarchive.co.uk: accessed …