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

1 PRINCES STREET AND 2-18 (EVEN NOS) NORTH BRIDGE, THE BALMORAL HOTEL (FORMER NORTH BRITISH HOTEL)LB30315

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Group Category Details
100000019 - See Notes
Date Added
14/06/1994
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 25814 73931
Coordinates
325814, 673931

Description

W Hamilton Beattie, 1896-1902; stone-cleaned and substantially refurbished 1988-91. 5 storeys, mezzanine and attic quadrangular-plan hotel (4 basement levels to W and S) with extravagant French and Scottish detailing, 58 metre high entrance tower and dramatic sky-line. Sandstone ashlar, channelled to exposed basements; channelled pilasters to ground floor; Stuarts Granolithic, fireproof construction. Cill courses to ground, 1st and 2nd floors, continuous with advanced and crenellated apron course at 5th floor. Moulded cornices dividing mezzanine and 1st floors and 1st and 2nd floors; heavy stone-bracketed and dentilled cornice dividing 3rd and 4th floors (styling 4th floor as classical attic); restrained entablature at wallhead. Blind balustraded balcony-aprons to 1st floor, strapwork balcony-aprons to 2nd floor (removed from S and W elevations). Architraved windows at ground, 1st and 2nd floors, with keystoned round arches at intervals on N, S and W elevations of ground, and 1st floors; pilaster-flanked 3rd floor windows and predominantly round-arched and keystoned windows to 4th floor. Stone mullions to all floors, with transoms and alternating segmental and regular pediments to 2nd. Windows predominantly bipartite. 2-storey pilasters to 2nd and 3rd floors dividing bays and to angles, narrow strips terminating in console bracket to heavy cornice above, with broader pilasters to every 3rd bay and angle with panelled bases and diamond-panelled shafts. Further embellishments to tympanum and double attic gableheads. Ball-finialled stone domes to corner towers.

N (PRINCES STREET) ELEVATION: 9 bays (outer bays tripartite). Principal entrance in slightly advanced lower bay at centre; bay stepped forward in angular ripples; paired Ionic columns flanking entrance bay bearing entablature with triglyphs across recessed entrance; broad, keystoned, round-arched doorway with tripartite timber door and semicircular fanlight flanked by columns in re-entrant angle and with reclining classical figure sculptures carved in spandrels; 1st floor with paired, fluted Ionic columns flanking canted windows with single Ionic columns flanking centre light; canted window continuing up to 3rd floor. Flanking bays: 3 regular bays to left and right with secondary door to outer left breaking symmetry: Ionic columned and pedimented doorpiece with triglyph frieze and semicircular fanlight over corniced lintel; Dutch gabled ashlar dormerheads to 4th floor, bipartite windows at centre, detailed as towerhead gables, with NBR cipher carved in tympanum, and flanked by oculi. Outer bays with bowed windows at ground and 1st floors with oval oculi to each face of mezzanine (between floors); single windows flanking bipartite windows (detailed as towerhead gables but with segmental broken pediments and crowned by regular pediments). Outer bays crowned by large facetted domes with semicircular pedimented ashlar dormers to attic and decorative ball finials. Stone balustrade to basement area.

ENTRANCE TOWER: square-plan tower rising above principal entrance at wallhead from 4th floor; corbelled base with 4th floor parapet canted around, angled fillets to angles at 4th floor; bipartite window flanked by columns with cornice and segmental pediment cradling keystoned oculus and clasping rectangular pilaster-flanked panel with carved emblem above; pilastered angles with nookshaft in filetted angle, and pilaster strips flanking narrow stair windows to outer wallplane of each face; arcaded corbel table on moulded brackets with boxed recesses to frieze and dentilled cornice, corbelled angles with brackets to polygonal cornices, waterspouts to each face and each angle. Towerhead with Dutch gabled bays carrying large clock faces with Roman numerals; carving in gablehead pediment and finials; polygonal turrets with heavy stone, ogee crown spires and finials to angles. Lead spire truncated with circular ring and light; decorative ironwork crown.

E (N BRIDGE) ELEVATION: detailed as flanking bays of N elevation except: channelled pilasters dividing shopfronts at ground floor; glazed mezzanine (oculi to 2 bays to outer right); tall pedimented, key-blocked entrance bays to centre, left and right with oculi to mezzanine; 1st floor detailed as 2nd minus pediments.

W ELEVATION: detailed as above except: 2 basement floors adjoining Waverley Steps (listed with Waverley Station) with shops at lower level. 4-bay gabled centre section flanked by 2-stage turrets (detailed as above) at 4th and attic floors; 3-storey bowed oriel on consoled brackets with inward-canted windows to centre flanked by Ionic columns; bowed oriel to attic with oculus above, flanked by polygonal tourelles and topped by scrolled aedicule with empty niche. Bowed oriels to outer right and left (1st and 2nd floor to right, 1st floor to left).

S ELEVATION: detailed as W elevation except: 2-storey oriels to outer right and left to 1st and 2nd floors, that to right with oculi to mezzanine at 1st. Exposed basement with single windows alternating with bipartites in groups running 3:3:6:3:3.

INTERIOR: Edwardian classical decorative scheme retained in principal areas. Fluted Corinthian columns and pilasters to entrance lobby; balustraded gallery to mezzanine. Panelled dadoes and architraved doors. Classical marble chimneypieces. Ornate plasterwork and coffered ceilings (partly disguising beams). Palm Court of curvilinear plan with bowed recesses and elaborate pedimented picture frames.

Plate glass to timber sash and case windows; some plate glass casements to balcony areas and larger round-arched windows. Grey slates to steep roof. Tall corniced ashlar stacks.

Statement of Special Interest

Part of an 'A' Group with Nos 6-20 Waterloo Place, Nos 1-29 Waterloo Place, Waverleygate, Regent Bridge, Register House and 5-43 Leith Street.

Beattie won the commission to design the North British Railway Hotel as the result of a competition , in which Dunn and Findlay, William Leiper (see ACADEMY ARCHITECTURE), James Burnet, Peddie and Mackay and Robert Rowand Anderson were also competitors. Beattie was an expert in the field of hotel design; in 1893-5 he had designed Jenners Department Store (also in Princes Street), whose proprietor was involved in the selection. The souvenir brochure gives full description and illustrations of the lavish interior of the hotel in 1902. The rooms then totalled 700, of which 300 were bedrooms; 13,000 tons of stone had been used in the construction, 1,600 girders, 8 million bricks, 26 acres of plasterwork and 24 miles of cornice; there were 6 acres of floor. Access to the hotel from the station at basement level was closed in the early 1980's, and a swimming pool was built in the former entrance. The Cockburn Association were initially horrified by the scale of the hotel, but came to recognise it as a 'friendly monster.' External restoration work was carried out by A Campbell Mars Architects in 1990.

References

Bibliography

Dean of Guild 23rd July 1896 and 28th October 1897. ACADEMY ARCHITECTURE 1896 vol 1 p70 and vol 2 p96. NORTH BRITISH STATION HOTEL Souvenir of Opening, 1902, reprinted 1991. Gifford, McWilliam and Walker EDINBURGH (1984) p 285.

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

There are no images available for this record, you may want to check Canmore for images relating to 1 PRINCES STREET AND 2-18 (EVEN NOS) NORTH BRIDGE, THE BALMORAL HOTEL (FORMER NORTH BRITISH HOTEL)

There are no images available for this record.

Search Canmore

Printed: 28/03/2024 13:19