Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

• Type

  Map

  Title

  Map for Former St Andrew’s Works Front Block, 7-17 and 21-23 Sinclair Place, excluding interiors, Edinburgh (LB26755)

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600039399)

Summary

Description

Constructed circa 1893-97 and extended 1931 by Alister MacDonald. A 37-bay one and two-storey gabled office block built level on falling ground with three two-storey Dutch gables dividing the elevation into three sections. Built in squared and snecked bull-nosed cream sandstone with red long and short ashlar dressings with moulded arises. There is a continuous band course linking the upper floor level windows and an eaves band course. Regular single window fenestration with 15-pane timber sash and case windows.

The main entrance doorway has fluted Tuscan pilasters supporting a segmental pediment with shell tympanum. The door is flanked by windows at upper floor level and smaller ones at the basement/ground level. The 11-bay slightly recessed single storey section to right is a later (1931) addition. There is a piended roof at the south gable end which has a square section red ashlar gatepier attached.

The roof is grey slate with moulded red ashlar skews and there are cast iron gutters and downpipes.

The building is the remaining built element of the former McVities, Guest and Co's biscuit making factory which was built in the later 19^th century. McVities was a large factory with multiple buildings which used to cover the large site to the southwest. The majority of the factory site was redeveloped into blocks of residential flats from the late 1990s.

Statement of Special Interest

• The building is a notable example of a former factory office which survives largely in its original form to the exterior. The building retains many of its later 19th and earlier 20th century features and includes good architectural details, such as the Dutch gables and the long linear elevation.

• The building's historic character to the exterior has not been adversely affected by the loss of the interior and is still readable as an industrial office block.

• It has special social historical interest as a tangible reminder of the industrial history of the area and for its association with an internationally renowned company, which had its origins in Edinburgh.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2025. Previously listed as 'Robertson Avenue St Andrew's Works Front Block'.

References

Bibliography

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