Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Front R & R Dickson, dated 1839; rebuilt and extended George Craig, 1891; swimming baths George Craig, dated 1896. 3-storey T-plan school with single storey front jamb and earlier Tudor-style front facade; matching swimming baths to NW. Cream sandstone, droved ashlar to front, coursed and squared rubble with droved dressings to rear buildings. Base course; chamfered reveals; four-centred-arched openings; 3-storey block with cill course at 1st floor, string course above 1st floor and ornamental cast-iron ventilation grilles; openings to front facade hoodmoulded.

NE (GREAT JUNCTION STREET) ELEVATION: gabled elevation with kneelers and apex finial rising from corbel shaft; 2 transomed tripartite windows at ground floor; elaborately sculpted niche with statue of Rev Dr Andrew Bell, crocketted canopy with blind tracery, 2 inscribed panels with cusped heads flanking telling history of school. Gable framed by square-plan crenellated towers with angle buttresses, arrowslit windows and clock faces. Doorways set in screen walls with steeped crenellated parapets and octagonal finials to either side. To outer right, single storey 3-bay link with swimming baths, bipartites flanking single window.

SW (REAR) BLOCK: T-plan with louvred and leaded central fleche; 4-bay single storey linking block with front facade. 3-storey block with 6-bay by 2-bay gabled centre jamb, bellcote to gablehead. Stroke of

T 2-bay to W, 4-bay to E, doorway in re-entrant angle and inscribed panels at 1st floor. Rear elevation with tall shouldered central wallhead stack linked to roof; 2-storey brick addition, stone front to Junction Place with gatepiers incorporated inscribed 'Public School?'Great Junction Street?.

SWIMMING BATHS AND STALK: single storey; rectangular-plan with gabled elevation detailed as above to Great Junction Street; transomed tripartite window to centre with dated apron, smaller single windows flanking. Tall tapering square-plan red brick stalk adjoining to SW with contrasting yellow brick quoins. Skylights to roof and kingpost roof with central pendants. Mostly 4- or 6-pane timber casements with top hoppers. Slate roofs; wallhead stack and brick stalk (see above). keel-moulded skewputts to 1890s work. Moulded eaves gutters and octagonal gutterheads.

INTERIOR: not seen 1993.

Low rubble wall with plain iron railings.

Statement of Special Interest

Dr Andrew Bell (1753-1832) was a Scottish clergyman, who developed a system of popular education whereby older and more advanced students supervised younger ones to counter the shortage of teachers, the so-called Madras system of education. On his death he left a large fortune to endow educational schemes in Scotland. His Leith school was taken over by Leith School Board and reconstructed as Great Junction Street Public School in 1892. The swimming baths are no 14, the school is no 15 and the nursery school, no 15A.

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.