Description

Robert Wilson, 1885. 2-storey, Gothic, L-plan former school (currently resource centre (2007

with triple gabled elevation to N (Infirmary Street) with central apex bellcote. Base course, moulded string course, cornice. Droved, coursed sandstone with contrasting ashlar dressings. Some gables break wallhead. Shouldered openings to ground, shallow, pointed-arch window openings to 1st storey and some square windows to side and rear elevations.Segmental-arched entrance openings to E and W with 2-leaf, 6-panel timber doors and 'Boys' and 'Girls' carved above.Later (1892) full height addition to S.Infirmary Street (N) elevation with slightly advanced, buttressed central bay with three-light windows, those to 1st storey with Corinthian reveal colonnettes. Central moulded roundel with carved figure above (see Notes).

Predominantly 6 over 12 and 6 over 6, timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Corbelled gable stacks. Skews, axial ventilators.

INTERIOR: (seen 2007). Largely unaltered. Two staircases with metal balusters and cupolas above. Some decorative plasterwork cornices and timber dado panelling in classrooms.

8 INFIRMARY STREET: 2-storey, L-plan former janitor's house (now private residence, 2007). Coursed, stugged sandstone with contrasting polished ashlar dressings. Base course, moulded string course, cornice. Canted bay window to ground. 4-panel timber entrance door in re-entrant angle to W with fanlight above.Plate glass timber sash and case windows. Grey slates, coped, wallhead stacks. Cast iron rainwater goods.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: surrounds buildings. To W and S, tall, rubble with canted coping, surmounted by iron railings to S. To E, coped, stugged, coursed. To N (street elevation), ashlar, surmounted by metal railings and with pair of square-plan gatepiers with base course and canted coping stone.

Statement of Interest

This is a good, well detailed and little altered, example of an Edinburgh Board School, which retains its former janitor's house, playground and boundary walls. The shouldered window openings to the ground floor and the corbelled stacks are interesting decorative details which add to the visual appeal of the building. Together with the former janitor's house, the school adds significantly to the streetscape of the area. The central roundel includes a relief figure of St Margaret, the patron saint of learning..

After the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872, education became compulsory for 5-13 year olds and the provision of schools across the country increased enormously. Some previous school buildings were able to be used but there were insufficient for the numbers of children that were now required to be educated. The design for the School Board buildings normally followed standard plans based on the education theory of the time and always included separate entrances for girls and boys, and separate playgrounds. Sometimes there were separate staircases for the different sexes as in this case.

Robert Wilson (1834-1901) worked primarily in the Edinburgh area and was the School Board architect and designed schools throughout Edinburgh.

List description revised as part of Edinburgh Holyrood Ward resurvey 2007-08.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17808362

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
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  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
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  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
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  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)