Edinburgh City Council recently announced plans to reconsider the future use of Thomas Hamilton’s Royal High School on Calton Hill, ending a deal with developers who had pledged in 2009 to find a sustainable purpose for the building. The High School, a masterpiece of the Scottish Greek Revival, has long lain empty; in 2015 plans to transform it into a luxury hotel were widely condemned by heritage groups and the public, and last year
the Scottish Government rejected a revised proposal.
The council’s decision has been welcomed by the Royal High School Preservation Trust, which since 2015 has campaigned for the building to become a new home for St Mary’s Music School. The trust is likely to make a bid to take over the site, while the hotel developers have yet to confirm whether they will submit a further proposal. In the April 2015 issue of Apollo, Gavin Stamp discussed the significance of Hamilton’s building and lamented that it might become a hotel; an adapted version
Last modified on Sat 6 Feb 2021 17.07 EST
When renowned Scottish architect Thomas Hamilton set about designing a home for Edinburghâs Royal High School in the early 1800s, he cemented the cityâs reputation as an âAthens of the Northâ with a Greek revival building still considered one of Europeâs finest.
But despite being widely lauded and variously floated as a home for the Scottish parliament, a national photography centre and a military history museum, the building has lain empty since the school moved in 1968. Now, a decision by the cityâs council to strip hotel developers of the siteâs lease could see it back in action once again.
Edinburgh s old Royal High School building risks the same fate as A-listed St Peter s Seminary – John McLellan
Nestling in the Argyllshire countryside near Cardross is one of Scotland’s architectural gems, the country’s best post-war building, according to Prospect architectural magazine, while Historic Environment Scotland describes it as “one of the finest modern buildings”.
Saturday, 23rd January 2021, 7:00 am
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill has been lying largely empty for more than half a century. (Picture: Steven Scott Taylor)
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