Edinburgh, Craigleith Road, Royal Victoria Hospital, Administration Block
Hospital (20th Century)
Site Name Edinburgh, Craigleith Road, Royal Victoria Hospital, Administration Block
Classification Hospital (20th Century)
Canmore ID 200386
Site Number NT27SW 3007.04
NGR NT 2320 7469
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/200386
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
2 storey, 5 bay traditional Scots administration block with single storey and attic wing linking to Italianate dining hall with prominent campanile. Rendered masonry with ashlar to doorpiece and wallhead window margins. Purple ashlar masonry to dining hall.
The administration block at the Royal Victoria Hospital is a highly distinctive building which makes free use of two different styles, very much in the ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement which looked to traditional styles and methods in reaction to mass production and mechanisation. The building was designed by Sydney Mitchell who is a well known architect of the period who made use of a range of styles in his work. The administration building is one of the most pleasing of Mitchell & Wilson s hospital designs. The building typifies concern of late Victorians and Edwardians to treat ill persons in buildings surrounded by gardens & villas rather than in obvious institutions. The hospital began as a rest home for consumptives. During the First World War it was requisitioned for use as a specialist neurological treatment unit. There were a series of distinctive butterfly plan pavilions laid out on the site. These were demolished in the late 20th century and the hospital is now housed in a 1968 brick building by Reich, Hall and Partners. (Historic Environment Scotland List Entry)
Project (1997)
The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012.
The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network.
Field Visit (20 June 2002)
Large carved Royal Arms of Scotland, composed of a shield decorated with a lion rampant in the first and fourth quarters, three lions passant guardant in the second quarter and a harp in the third quarter. Above the shield is a crown surmounted by a helmet, topped by another crown. To the left of the helmet is a second helmet topped by a lion; to the right is a third helmet topped by a castle. Below the shield is a unicorn rampant (left) and a lion rampant (right), each holding a flagstaff, the shafts of which are crossed between them. The flag held by the unicorn is the saltire, that held by the lion is the St George's cross. Between the lion and the unicorn are entwined roses and thistles.
Inspected By : Joan M. Kennedy
Inscriptions : On ribbon top left: DIEU ET MON DROIT
On ribbon top right: QUIS SEPARABIT
On ribbon at bottom: NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT
Signatures : None
Design period : c.1906
Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0576)
