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Summary

Description

Basil Spence and Partners (work supervised by J Hardie Glover), 1956-62. 6-storey and set back attic T-plan on square base office block. Polished black granite plinth at ground, surmounted by thin glazed clerestorey strip; upper floors clad in pale Derbydene marble.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: granite steps to 2-storey entrance in antis to left of centre; stainless steel drum with revolving door set into plate glass. Plinth (ground floor) with square windows regularly spaced. Upper floors divided by glazed bands of 22 windows and by marble bands. 1st floor piano nobile with taller windows, interrupted by entrance. Pair of vertical flag poles at eaves to left. Set back attic dining room cut off to S, with copper clad roof. Set back link to Guardian Royal Exchange building (see separate listing) with entrance at ground.

S ELEVATION: blind return gable of front block to right, with 5 window rear elevation detailed as above. Rear block (downstroke of T) set back over ground floor plinth; 8 windows detailed as above; joined by recessed plate glass stair tower with horizontal glazing.

W (REAR) ELEVATION: blind face with single vertical glazed strip at centre, raised over extended plinth; door at ground.

Teak and aluminium glazing, each window with fixed and tilting panes. Flat roof, some copper cladding.

INTERIOR: very fine period interior, with furniture and fittings to suit (cast aluminium handles as used at University Library). Double height entrance hall with spiral stair encircling stainless steel circular lift, accessing self-contained boardroom suite; polished marble cladding and floors, including some Derbydene marble (as exterior). Boardrooms with leather panelled walls, timber ceilings, some built-in furniture. Secondary stairs with walls clad in tiny rough granite fillets. Corridors with lighting strips at ceiling height (as on exterior at ground). Canteen at attic level with roof terrace, and penthouse flat.

Statement of Special Interest

The Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society acquired the relatively new premises of the Western Bank of Scotland at 9 St Andrew Square in 1859, and expanded into Nos 10 and 11 in the early 1930s. By 1956 they decided that they needed more accommodation and called in Basil Spence to design a new building for the site. This new head office was self-consciously built to harmonize with its neighbour the Guardian Royal Exchange (see separate listing - 12 St Andrew Square), and is an understated but very sophisticated classical design in all respects. Only the finest materials were used (even on rear elevations), and the finishing throughout, internally and externally, is excellent. The principal entrance is a particularly successful piece of theatre, mirroring the treatment of 42 St Andrew Square which it faces, and the interior has survived much as Spence left it. The same firm's Edinburgh University Library, George Square, was built from 1965-7.

References

Bibliography

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