Royal High School, viewed from South East

Description Royal High School, viewed from South East

Date c. 1870

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 747773

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 2410

Scope and Content Royal High School, Regent Road, Edinburgh, from the south-east The Royal High School, designed in 1825-9 in a Greek Doric style by the architect, Thomas Hamilton, stands on a spectacular curved site on the north side of Regent Road. The school, one of Edinburgh's notable buildings that justify the city's nickname of the 'Athens of the North', was photographed by Erskine Beveridge c.1890. The centrepiece of the building is a magnificent 'temple' with tall fluted columns that rises well above the roadway. It is based on the style and proportions of the Temple of Theseus in Athens, and has low colonnaded wings which extend on either side and terminate in pavilions. The arrangement is completed by a smaller temple block at each end (right), aligned with the bend of the road. The school, given the title 'Royal' by King James VI at the end of the 16th century, was originally housed in the Old Town. The city fathers resolved to build a replacement building on a splendid site that would out-do other schools in Edinburgh both architecturally and academically. Their new building, completed at a cost of £24,000, served from 1829 until 1968 when the school moved to new premises in Barnton. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap