Old College is a late 18th-century to early 19th-century building of the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. It is located on
South Bridge, and presently houses parts of the University's administration, the
University of Edinburgh School of Law, and the
Talbot Rice Gallery.
Originally called the "New College", it was designed by
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...
to replace a number of older buildings previously built on the site of the former
Kirk o' Field, and after considerable delays was completed to a modified design by
William Henry Playfair
William Henry Playfair Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and many of Edinb ...
, except for the dome added later. It is a
Category A listed building
Category, plural categories, may refer to:
General uses
*Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy
* Category of being
* ''Categories'' (Aristotle)
* Category (Kant)
* Categories (Peirce)
*Category (V ...
.
History

Efforts by
Edinburgh Town Council to build a college led to
James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
granting a
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
in 1582 for what became known as the "Tounis College". On a visit in 1617 he expressed a wish that it be called "King James's College" and this became its formal name, but the older title remained in use for the town's college, which was also called ''Academia'' and sometimes university.
The college occupied the grounds of the former
Kirk o' Field collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...
, bounded on the south by the
Flodden Wall, and on the north by Jamaica Street, about midway down the slope to the
Cowgate. On its west boundary, Horse Wynd led to the
Potterrow Port. The church itself had extended east from there. Its site formed the main quadrangle, the High College, two smaller quadrangles lay to its north. The old Library formed the east edge of the main buildings, from there the College Gardens extended further east to the
Royal Infirmary on the
Blackfriars site. By 1763 the university was internationally famous, but the buildings were inadequate and partly in a ruinous state.

The Principal of the University
William Robertson warned of dilapidation and overcrowding, a pamphlet of 1768 called unsuccessfully for subscriptions to build new teaching-rooms and houses.
South Bridge was routed across the College Gardens, in a December 1784 letter
Andrew Dalzell wrote "It is now resolved to build a bridge across the Cowgate, passing between the College and the Infirmary. It is thought that when the ''posteriors'' of the College are exposed, people will be shamed into building a new College." Soon after this,
James Gregory wrote an influential letter to
Dundas,
which was more successful in raising subscriptions.
The
South Bridge Act 1785 was passed in the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
on 21 April 1785 and in 1789 taxes were raised to fund a new University building in Edinburgh to a plan prepared by
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...
.
Adam's plan proposed a building with its main entrance from South Bridge leading to a "First Court", giving access to professor's lodgings, followed by a square Great Court, around which the main academic halls and lecture rooms would be arranged.
The South Bridge was built, and opened for traffic in March 1788.
The "Foundation-stone of the New College Of Edinburgh" was laid on 6 November 1789,
and the old buildings along the north boundary were demolished. The "theatre for dissections", built around 1760 to the east of the library for Professor of Anatomy
Alexander Monro (secundus), had been demolished for the bridge. On 31 March 1790 Monro laid the foundation stone for his new Anatomical Theatre at the north west corner of the building, it came into use in October 1792. By then several apartments on the north side were in use, but roofs were incomplete. Progress was slowed by the death of Robert Adam and the outbreak of the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
. The
Roman Doric columns of the portico at the South Bridge entrance were erected, but funds ran out, and by 1793 all work had stopped.
In 1815 further funds were raised, and work recommenced. Plans were submitted by nine architects showing their proposals to continue the design work, with the outcome that
William Henry Playfair
William Henry Playfair Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and many of Edinb ...
was appointed architect in 1817. Playfair's design clove close to Adam's but combined the two courts into a single large quadrangle. By 1827 the building was virtually complete with the exception of fitting out the
library
A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
, and construction of a dome which Adam had proposed at the east end of the building. This was left out as a cost saving, and the work was completed about four years later. The dome was added in 1887, to a design by Sir
Robert Rowand Anderson, and funded by a donation from
Gorgie
Gorgie ( ) is a densely populated area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located to the west of the city centre, and borders Murrayfield, Ardmillan and Dalry, Edinburgh, Dalry.
Name
The name is thought to be British language (Celtic), Brythonic in ...
industrialist and politician,
Robert Cox.
The gilded statue of Youth which crowns the dome is by
John Hutchison.
The university building, identified for a time as "the New College", was later known as "the College".
. Theology professor
Thomas Chalmers resigned in the
Disruption of 1843, and in November gave the inaugural address at the opening of the Free Church College, which became the
New College.
In the early 20th century the South Bridge university building became known as the Old College.
In 1935, following reunion of the
Free Church with the Church of Scotland, the university Faculty of Divinity merged into the Free College on The Mound.
The large bronze war memorial at the west end of the quadrangle was designed by Sir
Robert Lorimer
Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...
in 1922 and sculpted by
Pilkington Jackson the following year.
The courtyard of the quadrangle was not completed at the time the Old College was originally constructed. However, it was redesigned by architects Simpson & Brown in 2011 and was paved in Hazeldean sandstone, a honey-coloured stone which is a good match for the original
Craigleith sandstone. A central grassed area was part of the design. The newly designed courtyard is both a venue for graduation celebrations and festival events, as well as providing a more inviting entrance for the various Old College facilities.
Gallery
Old College, Edinburgh University (7002983883).jpg, Old College's Neoclassical style
Old College (8205739857).jpg, Old College at nightfall
Edinburgh University (4752821570).jpg, Edinburgh Law School
Raeburn Room, Old College, Edinburgh.jpg, Raeburn Room
Staircase in Old College, Edinburgh.jpg, Staircase
EdinburghTalbotRiceGallery2017.jpg, Talbot Rice Gallery
Playfair Library, Old College, Edinburgh (48815493607).jpg, Playfair Library
West College Street Bridge, Edinburgh.jpg, West College St. Bridge, connected to the National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture.
It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...
Edinburgh University - Old College - geograph.org.uk - 2190341.jpg, The dome during Winter
Old College Sunset (24973540512).jpg, View of the dome during sunset
Figure of Youth on the dome of Old College Edinburgh.JPG, Figure of Youth on the dome of Old College, by John Hutchison
References
*
External links
University of Edinburgh*
*
*
{{Authority control
School buildings completed in 1790
Old Town, Edinburgh
Buildings and structures of the University of Edinburgh
Robert Adam buildings
Listed educational buildings in Scotland
Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh
Neoclassical buildings and structures
Robert Rowand Anderson buildings
1790 establishments in Scotland
Domes in the United Kingdom