St Leonard’s Land, Edinburgh Holyrood Road

St Leonard’s Land Edinburgh Architect, Holyrood Road Building Project, Scottish Capital Design Info

St Leonard’s Land Edinburgh

St Leonard’s Land, Holyrood Rd, Edinburgh design by Faulkner Brown Architects

post updated 28 December 2021

St Leonard’s Land Edinburgh Property

Location: top end of Holyrood Road, South Side

Dates built: 1999-2000

Design: Faulkner Brown Architects

A refurbishment of Moray House was completed by architects Gordon & Dey in 1970.

This seventies building has been reskinned by British architects Faulkner Brown.

Location: opposite St John Street, south side of Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Phone: 0131 650 1000

The original Edinburgh University Physical Education facility revised with new staff facilities, laboratories and a swimming pool. The facades consist of overly bold-coloured render and grey metal panelling. This is located above an unusual beige rusticated base with windows that push out in various ways to allow views down the street.

In the 1970s, three specialist teaching buildings were built from designs by architects Gordon and Dey. They were St Leonard’s Land (Physical Education), Chessel’s Land (Visual Arts) and St Mary’s Land (Science and Technical).

The design of these buildings was representative of 1960s Modernist architecture and somewhat out of sympathy with the surrounding areas of the Old Town. The bulk of the buildings were on land formerly occupied by the Edinburgh and Leith Brewery, and before that by the Old Edinburgh Playhouse.

Moray House, Canongate:
Moray House - St Leonards Land, Edinburgh Holyrood Road
photo : Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Moray House School of Education and Sport (‘Moray House’) is a school within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. It is based in historic buildings on the Holyrood Campus, located between the Canongate and Holyrood Road.

The school offers programmes at all levels of higher education, including teacher training, Community Education, Digital Education, Physical Education and Sports science. It is also a centre for educational research. The school has existed in one form or another since the mid-19th century, joining the University of Edinburgh in 1998.

Edinburgh Old Town

Old Town Buildings

Old Town Buildings close by – key selection:

The Tun, located to the East:
holyrood offices
image © Adrian Welch

Palace of Holyroodhouse, located to the East:
Palace of Holyroodhouse
picture © Adrian Welch

Scottish Poetry Library
Scottish Poetry Library
photograph © Keith Hunter

Old Town Canongate Housing, on Canongate (aka Royal Mile):
Old Town Housing
photograph © Adrian Welch

Canongate Kirk, located to the North, on the Royal Mile:
Canongate Kirk
photo © Adrian Welch

Scottish Storytelling Centre, located to the North West, on the Royal Mile:
Scottish Storytelling Centre
photograph © Adrian Welch
Scotsman Newspaper, located to the South East:

Queen’s Gallery, located to the East, by Holyrood Park:

Scottish Capital Architecture

Edinburgh Walking Tours

Edinburgh Restaurants

Scottish Parliament

Another Scottish project by Faulkner-Brown Architects

Strathclyde University Library, Cathedral Street, Glasgow
Redeveloped by Faulkner-Brown Hendy Watkinson Stonor in 1983

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