| Modern Buildings
Scotland Modernism in Edinburgh & Lothian, Scotland |
| Modern Edinburgh Architecture |
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Modern Architecture became linked to a certain genre of building and thus over time wasn't really 'modern' anymore. Thus Modern Houses (or Modernist Houses) suggests a certain style, not simply a 'contemporary' or 'current' construction. Modern Architecture was associated with some great architects and some powerful countries and companies. It became the equivalent of the Classical Style in the Georgian period, ie the establishment architecture, the status quo. Since the seventies architecture styles have become more fractured and we have - amongst what could be termed contemporary architects - post-modernists, neo-modernists, deconstructivists, contextualists, expressionists and so on. Modern Houses At the base of this page we list classic Modern Houses by key Architects, including Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Pierre Chareau, Adolf Loos, etc. Contemporary Architects Scottish Architecture Modern Edinburgh Houses, Scotland: |
| Early
20th Century Architecture 1900-1970 |
These
modern buildings, mostly Modern houses, are dotted around Edinburgh so probably
best reached by car, or bus. Buildings covered elsewhere include St. Andrew's House, St. Cuthbert's Showroom (Point Hotel) and Grey Walls Hotel. In many ways Edinburgh fell asleep architecturally from the Georgian era up until relatively recently. None of the buildings below really compare with Glasgow's stars, e.g. Luma light factory (1936), Gillespie Kidd & Coia's churches and Cardross Seminary, Alexander Greek Thomson's churches* or of course Mackintosh's works. The first four entries are all within 1.5 km of each other in Edinburgh's affluent suburban western edge. |
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| Corstorphine 1 |
Craigsbank Church, Craigs Bank, 1967 Rowand Anderson Kininmonth & Paul Echoes of Ronchamp: clean lines, powerful forms with single bell as visible icon over the suburban bungalows. Lots of exposed concrete and rough render. Under refurbishment 2006. |
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| Corstorphine 2 |
Lismhor, 11 Easter Belmont Rd, 1933/35 Kininmonth & Basil Spence In a series of 1930's modern houses on this private road. Lismhor House |
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| Clermiston 3 |
St Andrew's Church, Clermiston View, 1959 Sir Basil Spence & Ptnrs Landmark modern campanile adrift in trad suburbia. |
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| Gogar 4 |
Maybury
Roadhouse, Maybury Rd, 1936 Patterson & Brown Well-known Art Deco casino and hotel on road to airport: white, modern & streamlined with glitzy interior. |
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| Craiglockhart 5 |
4 Glenlockhart Bank, 1938 George Lawrence White, modern, curved bay window; well-balanced composition for artist Helen Thornton. |
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| Blackford Hill |
A Little House
on Blackford Hill, 32 Charterhall Rd, Blackford |
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| Liberton 6 |
Mortonhall
Crematorium, Howdenhall Rd, 1967 Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson Assortment of white Corbusian buildings in rolling parkland setting: the crystalline chapel's interior feels Scandinavian. Mortonhall |
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| Grange 7 |
46a
Dick Place, 1933 William Kininmonth: private house The late Kininmonth's own house. White-rendered two-storey rectilinear volume with focal south-facing bay window; the latter is highly-glazed and topped with a terrace. The roofs are flat but there is no nautical theme here with the roof terrace not even being expressed on the elevation. |
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| Merchiston | George
Watson's Music School, 1964 Michael Laird & Partners (now Architects) Hyperbolic paraboloid roof pitched down to fleetingly touch the ground plane George Watson's |
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| New Town | Standard
Life Assurance, 3 George St, 1964, 1975 Michael Laird & Partners (now Architects) Office building wraps round an existing corner block Standard Life Building |
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| Southside | Royal
Commonwealth Pool, Dalkeith Rd, Newington RMJM swimming pool Royal Commonwealth Pool |
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| Old Town |
Adam House, Chambers St 1954-55 Kininmonth View from Cowgate of Chambers St University building. The Old Town Fire ripped out the heart of the Old Town's World Heritage site damaging at least ten buildings. Adam House was designed by William Kininmonth and built to serve as an examination centre. |
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| Gifford |
The Rink, Haddington
Rd, Gifford, 1963 |
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| Southside | Southside Garage, Newington Basil Spence refurbished by Duffy & Batt 2002-2003 Southside Garage |
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| Haddington | Amisfield
Park, Haddington, East Lothian 1964 Campbell & Arnott Architects Modern Houses on eastern perimeter of Haddington Amisfield Park |
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| Architecture
Tours Modern Houses Afshar House in Edinburgh, 2003: ![]() On a personal note, my visit to Aalto's Villa Mairea, finding the owners were on holiday and being shown round by the gardener on a scholarship to study Modern Finnish Architecture in 2001 at the age of 19, has to be the highlight of my student years. Later, whilst working for Eva Jiricna a group of us went to see the office's work in Brno - the Lavka Bridge - and to see Mies van der Rohe's Tugendhat Villa. The pictures had never made the house look so seductive but this building has the power of the Barcelona Pavilion, except it was built for a family, for domesticity. The simple red onyx wall designed to glow crimson with the sunset, peppered by opaque stones and small holes, is a tour de force as are the radical full-height windows that dropped into the floor to engage 'house' and 'garden'. Adrian Welch Contemporary Architecture : back to index Modern Buildings in Scotland British Home Stores: ![]() BHS image from princes st gardens © adrian welch: 2005 New Club, Princes Street: ![]() new club edinburgh - image © adrian welch: 2005 Former Scottish Provident Headquarters: ![]() * St Mary's Free Church, Broughton St, Edinburgh competition design, c.1858, by Greek Thomson - but never built Glasgow Houses |