View of Edinburgh School of English, 271 Canongate and 2 Cranston Street, Edinburgh, from NW.

Description View of Edinburgh School of English, 271 Canongate and 2 Cranston Street, Edinburgh, from NW.

Date 27/5/2014

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number DP 190151

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content This shows Canongate Christian Institute, 2 Cranston Street and Edinburgh School of English (former Canongate United Presbyterian Church), 271 Canongate, Edinburgh. The Cranston Street elevation of the former church has a range of smaller windows to the slightly projecting front portion (just visible far right). Adjoining the church to the north and west is the Canongate Christian Institute which was built in 1878, to designs by Robert Paterson & Sons. This is built in the Scots Baronial style L-plan with crowstepped gables, stone-mullioned windows and carved shield in the central gable above a large tripartite window, reading 'Canongate Christian Institute 1878'. The Institute and Mission Hall extend along the north end of the slightly earlier former church. The United Presbyterian Church was built in 1869, probably to designs by architect Robert Paterson (1825-89) who designed several other United Presbyterian Churches across Edinburgh in the 1860s. It is two-storeyed with a basement level visible from Cranston Street, and is Gothic in style with a wide gabled front containing four sets of bipartite windows with pointed arch hoodmoulds above. The central pointed-arched entrance doorway is flanked by matching tripartite windows with continuous hoodmoulds above. The two buildings are presently (2014) occupied by the Edinburgh School of English, which was established in 1969 to provide English lessons for adults and young learners from the age of nine. The church was refurbished in 1990 to suit this purpose.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1427850

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap