Palace of Holyroodhouse Edinburgh Photos

Holyrood Palace Edinburgh Pictures, Historic Scottish Capital Architecture Images, Architect Project Design, Info

Palace of Holyroodhouse Edinburgh : Architecture

Royal Building in the Old Town, Lothian, southeast Scotland, United Kingdom

post updated 18 November 2023

Palace of Holyroodhouse Edinburgh is one of the royal family’s residences in Scotland. The other is Balmoral Castle in Royal Deeside, north east Scotland.

Palace of Holyroodhouse Holyrood Palace
Histric Scottish Capital Architecture photo © Adrian Welch

Holyrood Palace Edinburgh

Holyrood Palace Edinburgh
Histric Scottish Capital Architecture image © Adrian Welch

This royal residence is located at the east end of the Scottish capital city’s Old Town. It is sited in Canongate, a historic neighbourhood of Edinburgh, next to the expansive Holyrood Park. The stately home is open to the public, but visitors cannot access when the royal family is in residence, which is typically one or two times a year.

Holyrood Edinburgh Holyroodhouse Edinburgh
Royal Building in the Old Town photos © Adrian Welch 2007 taken with lumix camera

Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Holyroodhouse has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

The current Palace of Holyroodhouse was designed by Sir William Bruce and built between 1671 and 1678, with the exception of the 16th-century north-west tower built by James V. The palace is laid out round a central, classical-style three-storey plus attic quadrangle layout. The property extends approximately 230 feet (70 m) from north to south and 230 feet (70 m) from east to west.

Holyrood Palace Edinburgh
Old Town building photo © Adrian Welch, 27 September 2007

The 16th-century north-west tower is balanced with a matching south-west tower, each with a pair of circular angle turrets with ball-finialled, conical bell-cast roofs. The towers are linked by a recessed two-storey front, with the central principal entrance framed by giant Doric columns and surmounted by the carved Royal arms of Scotland. Above the arms a crowned cupola with a clock rises behind a broken pediment supported by dolphins, on which are two reclining figures.

Holyrood
unlinked photos © Adrian Welch, see link at base of page

The north and south fronts have symmetrical three-storey facades that rise behind to far left and right of the two-storey west front with regular arrangement of bays. General repairs were completed by the architect Robert Reid between 1824 and 1834 that included the partial rebuilding of the south-west corner tower and refacing of the entire south front in ashlar to match that of the east.
source: wikipedia

Palace of Holyroodhouse – context: Edinburgh Old Town

Buckingham Palace – London

Edinburgh Old Town Building Designs

Edinburgh Old Town Property Designs – recent Scottish Capital city architectural selection below:

Building adjacent to The Palace of Holyroodhouse:

Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
picture © Keith Hunter

Queens Gallery
Queen's Gallery Edinburgh
image © Adrian Welch

Dynamic Earth
Dynamic Earth Edinburgh
photo © Adrian Welch

Scottish Capital Building Designs

Scottish Capital Property Designs – recent architectural selection below:

Jenners
Jenners
photo © Adrian Welch

Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
picture © Adrian Welch

Edinburgh Playhouse
Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre
image © Adrian Welch

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