Dundas House
Dundas House | |
---|---|
Sir William Chambers | |
Listed Building – Category A | |
Official name | 36 St Andrew Square, Dundas House, Royal Bank of Scotland Head Office |
Designated | 13 April 1965 |
Reference no. | 29705 |
Dundas House is a
Background
The site was previously occupied by a rural tavern known as "Peace and Plenty".[2] This stood on the road from Edinburgh to Stockbridge, later called Gabriels Road, and still extant at its extremities.
When the town council made plans for a New Town drawn up by James Craig in 1767, the site of Dundas House was shown as a proposed church, St. Andrew's (hence the name of the square), acting as a counterpart to St. George's Church on what became Charlotte Square (originally to be called George Square but another scheme to the south of the Old Town had taken that name first). The two were separated by the New Town itself laid out on a formal grid centred on George Street along which the two churches were to face each other.[3]
In 1780 Hugo Arnot described the building as "incomparably the handsomest townhouse we ever saw".[4]
The proposed
Commercial use
Lord Dundas died in 1781 and his son
Dundas House was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1825 for £35,300.[2] The interior was altered in 1825 and 1828 by Archibald Elliot the Younger, and in 1836 by William Burn. Much of these alterations were removed by John Dick Peddie in 1857 when a banking hall with a distinctive pierced dome was added to the rear of the existing house.[5]
In 1834, a statue of
In 1972 the 19th-century banking screens and counters were removed and replaced by white marble counters.[citation needed]
Architecture
Dundas House is a free-standing house designed in the Palladian style. It was modelled on Roger Morris's 1729 Palladian villa Marble Hill House in Twickenham, London but is much grander.
The house is built of cream sandstone ashlar, weathered to light grey, from Ravelston Quarry some three miles to the west.[6] It is fronted with a set of Corinthian pilasters supporting a large central pediment. The house is faced with ashlar with a rusticated ground floor.[4][5]
The large, opulent banking hall, added by Peddie in 1857, is covered by a large circular blue dome which is pierced by 5 tiers of star-shaped gold-rimmed coffered skylights radiating out from the central oculus which diminish in size towards the centre, representing the firmament.[5] An illustration of this star pattern featured on Royal Bank of Scotland's "Islay" series of banknotes which were in circulation 1987–2016.[7][8][9]
The Dunard Centre
In 2017, the International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust Scotland (IMPACT Scotland) announced plans to develop a 1,000-seat concert venue, to be known as the The Dunard Centre, behind Dundas House, replacing a block of banking offices that was built in the 1960s. Dundas House would be retained as a bank and would continue to be accessible to the public.[10] Revised planning permission for the development was granted in 2021 following a legal challenge by the developers of a neighbouring site.[11] Work got under way in February 2023.[12]
See also
- Banknotes of Scotland (featured on design)
References
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "36 St Andrew Square, Dundas House, Royal Bank of Scotland Head Office, With Associated Additions, Walls, Gatepiers, Gates, Railings And Lamp Standards (LB29705)".
- ^ a b c d "The Book of Old Edinburgh Club" (PDF). Old Edinburgh Club (22nd ed.). 1938. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- ISBN 9781445639598. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ ISBN 0300069405. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ ISBN 0300096720. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Vaughan, Andrew; Vaughan, Langton (July 2005). "Ravelston Woodland WIAT Management Plan". City of Edinburgh Council. p. 1. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
- ^ "Edinburgh Photo Library - Royal Bank of Scotland HQ". www.rampantscotland.com. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ "RBS plan to share historic Edinburgh HQ". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ "Our Banknotes – The Ilay Series". The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ David Chipperfield Architects (15 March 2018). "The IMPACT Centre" (PDF). Impact Scotland. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Thomas-Alexander, Tiya (13 August 2021). "Fresh plans submitted for £75m Edinburgh concert hall". Construction News. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ Stephen, Phyllis (6 February 2023). "Work begins on Dunard Centre – a new concert hall for Edinburgh". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
External links
- Edinburgh Bank — BBC Nationwide (BBC Archive, 1974)