Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

University of Edinburgh, 9 and 11 Infirmary Street, EdinburghLB27080

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
12/12/1974
Last Date Amended
17/07/2015
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 26052 73452
Coordinates
326052, 673452

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 Special 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'.

References

Bibliography

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore.html CANMORE ID 52406

John Wood, Plan of the City of Edinburgh, 1823.

1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map, 1849-53.

James Cassells, Old and New Edinburgh, 1880s, Vol IV, p286.

Shepherd's Edinburgh, 1980.

John Gifford, Colin McWilliam and David Walker, Buildings of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1984 p229.

H Colvin Dictionary Of British Architects 1600-1840 (1995) p867.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

Images

Southeast elevation, University of Edinburgh, 9 and 11 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh
Southeast elevation, University of Edinburgh, 9 and 11 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh

Printed: 25/04/2024 19:01