Description

William Sibbald, 1803-5. 3-bay, symmetrical, nave and aisle Neo-Jacobean former church (No 9) with curvilinear gables, now internally linked to early 19th century 2-storey, 6-bay Classical office (No 11) (currently forming university works department and offices) to right and with single storey pavilion to left. Ashlar, with some raised margins to church, rubble to rear. Base course, band course to pavilions, cornice. Raised cills. Round-arched openings to church and ground floor of No 11. Timber entrance door with semi-circular fanlight above to far left.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: former church with slightly advanced central bay. Set of 3 hoodmoulded round-arched openings to ground with 2-leaf boarded timber doors with metal studs and decorative metal hinges with 3-light semi-circular fanlights above. Large, central 4-light curvilinear tracery window with flanking smaller, 3-light tracery windows. Polygonal corner pinnacles.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows to No 11. Grey slates. Piended roof to pavilion to left.

INTERIOR: (seen 2007). Comprehensively altered to form workshop and offices. Barrel vaulted basement rooms. Some decorative plaster cornicing.

Statement of Interest

The neo-Jacobean style of the street elevation of this former church is particularly distinctive. The two flanking pavilions are an unusual addition and the ensemble is a significant addition to the streetscape of the area.

The Classical style was more popular in Edinburgh at this time and the curvilinear style of the church gable was perhaps influenced by the Canongate Church (see separate listing).

This church was built as a replacement for a previous Lady Yester Church slightly to the East. Lady Yester, the wife of James Hay of Yester, erected the original church in 1644 with seating for 817 people. This church was built in 1803 with seating for around 1200. There was a small cemetery around the church and some of the tombstones and tablets still survive embedded into the boundary walls. An engraving in Thomas Shepherd's 'Modern Athens' of 1829 shows No 11 as a single-storey building with the corresponding pavilion to the left of the church. It is suggested in Colvin that they originally held shops. It is likely that the 2nd storey was added later in the 19th century.

William Sibbald (died 1809) was the Superintendent of Public Works in Edinburgh from 1790-1809.

Currently university workshop and offices (2007).

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

Statutory address updated (2015).

Previously listed as '9 and 11 Infirmary Street'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Lady Yester's Kirk at Wikipedia
• Wikidata IDs Q17808035 Q6470620

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

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)