Dundas House is a Neoclassical building in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. It is located at 36

St Andrew Square St Andrew Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland located at the east end of George Street. The gardens, part of the collection of New Town Gardens, are owned by a number of private owners, managed by Essential Edinburgh and opened to ...

, in the city's first

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. The building was completed in 1774 as a private

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

for Sir Lawrence Dundas by the architect

Sir William Chambers __NOTOC__ Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. Biog ...

. Much altered internally and extended over the years, today it is the

registered office A registered office is the official address of an incorporated company, association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record and is required in most countries where the registered organization or legal entity ...

of the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

and its parent,

NatWest Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

and is protected as a category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Background

The site was previously occupied by a rural tavern known as "Peace and Plenty".http://www.oldedinburghclub.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/BOEC-OS/Volume-22.pdf This stood on the road from Edinburgh to Stockbridge, later called Gabriels Road, and still extant at its extremities. When the town council made plans for a New Town drawn up by James Craig in 1767, the site of Dundas House was shown as a proposed church, St. Andrew's (hence the name of the square), acting as a counterpart to St. George's Church on what became

Charlotte Square 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square is located at the west end of George Street and was intended ...

(originally to be called George Square but another

scheme A scheme is a systematic plan for the implementation of a certain idea. Scheme or schemer may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''The Scheme'' (TV series), a BBC Scotland documentary series * The Scheme (band), an English pop band * ''The Schem ...

to the south of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

had taken that name first). The two were separated by the New Town itself laid out on a formal grid centred on George Street along which the two churches were to face each other. Sir Lawrence Dundas saw the layout and decided the church site would make a good location for a prestigious town mansion, and in 1768 he acquired the land. Initially, he invited designs from the architects

John Carr John Carr may refer to: Politicians *John Carr (Indiana politician) (1793–1845), American politician from Indiana *John Carr (Australian politician, born 1819) (1819–1913), member of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1865–1884 * John H ...

and

James Byres James Byres of Tonley FRSE FSAScot FSA (1733 — 1817) was a Scottish architect, antiquary and dealer in Old Master paintings and antiquities. Biography He was born in Aberdeenshire in 1733. Byres was a member of a family of Scottish Jacobi ...

, but their proposals were not adopted. Dundas then turned to

who drew up plans for the mansion in early 1771. The designs were agreed, and soon afterwards construction began on the house. The building was completed by January 1774. In 1780

Hugo Arnot Hugo Arnot of Balcormo (8 December 1749 – 20 November 1786) was a Scottish advocate, writer, and campaigner. Life Arnot was born Hugo Pollock on 8 December 1749 in Leith, where his father was a merchant. He adopted his mother's maiden name, A ...

described the building as "incomparably the handsomest townhouse we ever saw". The proposed St Andrew's Church was subsequently built at a less prominent site at 13 George Street.

Commercial use

Lord Dundas died in 1781 and his son

Sir Thomas Dundas, 2nd Baronet Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas FRS (16 February 1741 – 14 June 1820), known as Sir Thomas Dundas, 2nd Baronet from 1781 to 1794, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1763 to 1794, after which he was raised to the ...

inherited the house. Having no great desire to live here (then the site was in the midst of a huge building site as the New Town construction began) he sold the house to the government in 1794 who converted it to the Excise House, which opened in 1795. At this stage it gained the royal coat of arms of the British Customs and Excise in its pediment. Dundas House was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1825 for £35,300. The interior was altered in 1825 and 1828 by

Archibald Elliot Archibald Elliot (August 1761 – 16 June 1823) was a Scottish architect based in Edinburgh. He had a very distinctive style, typified by square plans, concealed roofs, crenellated walls and square corner towers. All may be said to derive from ...

the Younger, and in 1836 by

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...

. Much of these alterations were removed by

John Dick Peddie John Dick Peddie (24 February 1824 – 12 March 1891) was a Scottish architect, businessman and a Liberal Party politician. Biography John Dick Peddie and his twin brother William were the second and third sons of James Peddie WS and Margaret Di ...

in 1857 when a banking hall with a distinctive pierced dome was added to the rear of the existing house. In 1834, a statue of

John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun General John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun, (17 August 1765 – 27 August 1823), known as The Honourable John Hope from 1781 to 1814 and as Lord Niddry from 1814 to 1816, was a Scottish politician and British Army officer. Military career Hopetoun ...

, who had served as Governor of the Bank 1820–23, was placed in the garden in front of Dundas House. The statue was originally commissioned in 1824 by a group of high ranking persons in Edinburgh, led by

James Gibson Craig The Gibson, later Gibson-Carmichael, later Gibson-Craig-Carmichael Baronetcy, of Keirhill in the County of Edinburgh, is a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 31 December 1702 for Thomas Gibson, with remainder to his heirs m ...

, from the sculptor

Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet * Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor * Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...

. Campbell created it in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and it was shipped to Britain in 1828. The current position was agreed by the architect in January 1830, and an appropriate plinth was designed to respect the frontage of Dundas House. Although several sources state that the statue was designed for

, there is no evidence of any plans for locating on that site, and Hope's link to the Royal Bank make Dundas House a more obvious first choice. In 1972 the 19th-century banking screens and counters were removed and replaced by white marble counters.

Architecture

Dundas House is a free-standing house designed in the

Palladian style Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

. It was modelled on Roger Morris's 1729 Palladian villa

Marble Hill House Marble Hill House is a Neo-Palladian villa, now Grade I listed, in Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It was built between 1724 and 1729 as the home of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, who lived there until her ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, London but is much grander. The house is built of cream sandstone ashlar, weathered to light grey, from Ravelston Quarry some three miles to the west. It is fronted with a set of

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s supporting a large central

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. The house is faced with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

with a rusticated ground floor. The large, opulent banking hall, added by Peddie in 1857, is covered by a large circular blue dome which is pierced by 5 tiers of star-shaped gold-rimmed

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

s radiating out from the central

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

which diminish in size towards the centre, representing the

firmament In biblical cosmology, the firmament is the vast solid dome created by God during his creation of the world to divide the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent ...

. An illustration of this star pattern featured on Royal Bank of Scotland's "Islay" series of banknotes which were in circulation 1987–2016.

Future use

In plans unveiled by the International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust Scotland ( IMPACT Scotland) in 2017, a new concert hall called the Impact Centre will be built behind Dundas House, replacing a block of banking offices that was built in the 1960s. Dundas House will be retained as a bank branch, accessible to the public.

References

External links

Edinburgh Bank
— BBC '' Nationwide'' (

BBC Archive BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history, including copies of television and radio broadcasts, internal documents, photographs, online content, sheet music, commercially available music, BBC products (including ...

, 1974) {{Buildings and Structures in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Royal Bank of Scotland Listed houses in Scotland New Town, Edinburgh William Chambers buildings Houses completed in 1774 1774 establishments in Scotland Palladian architecture Domes Bank buildings in the United Kingdom