Tailor's Hall, is a historic building in the

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

area of Edinburgh's

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 ...

. It was built in 1621 by the Guild of Tailors. It is now in use as a Stay Central Hotel. The main hall was built in 1621, on the south side of the courtyard. Then in 1640, a range of crow-stepped buildings was built on the north side fronting on to the Cowgate. This block, ''Tailor's Land,'' was demolished circa 1940 despite attempts by the architect

Robert Hurd Robert Philip Andrew Hurd (29 July 1905 – 17 September 1963) was an influential conservation architect. His original aim was to be an architectural author specialising in traditional forms. He came to Scotland in 1930 and worked at the Edinb ...

and others to save it. In 1638 the protest of the

National Covenant The National Covenant () was an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as ''The Kirk'') by King Charles I. The king's efforts to impose changes on the church i ...

was drafted there by an assembly of between two and three hundred clergymen, and following the

execution of Charles I The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in Eng ...

in 1649, the hall was used as a courthouse of the Scottish Commissioners. The building was used as a playhouse between 1727 and 1753. When that closed, it became a storehouse of the Argyle Brewery. The building is

category A listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

In 1998 the building was renovated and developed as the Tailors Hall Hotel, later the Central Hotel. In 2012 it was bought by the

G1 Group The Scotsman Group (previously G1 Group and King City Leisure) is a Scottish hospitality and leisure operator based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is run by its founder Stefan King. The company operates more than 50 venues in cities all over Scotlan ...

a Scottish hospitality and leisure operator. After a refurbishment in 2014, Central Hotel was relaunched as STAY Central Hotel, a 3 star hotel with 37 bedrooms.

References

External links

Historic Scotland building listingCanmore record for Tailor's Hall
{{Coord, 55, 56, 54, N, 3, 11, 24, W, type:landmark_region:GB-EDH, display=title Hotels in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed hotels in Scotland Old Town, Edinburgh Buildings and structures completed in 1621 1621 establishments in Scotland Hotels established in 1998 1998 establishments in Scotland