Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 1

EDINBURGH.
550
EDINBURGH.
a block of buildings immediately west of'the palace
yard. — The Tron church stands quite concealed from
general view in a close off the High-street. — The
New North church is a beautiful Gothic edifice,
looking northward along George IV.'s bridge, and
presenting its flanks to Forrest-road and Bristo-
place. The lower part of its front, containing the
great doorway, projects about twelve feet from the
main wall, containing the great window, and is
finely decorated with a mimic Gothic colonnade of
shafts and archlets. — Greyfriars church, in Graham-
street, has a very neat Saxon front, with two small
turrets and a pediment. — Buccleuch church, con-
fronting Buccleuch-street, is a pleasing Gothic edi-
fice of 1856, with a lofty well-proportioned steeple,
added in 1861-2. — A large church was founded, in
1862, on the western verge of Burntsfield-links, and
will be in the early decorated Gothic style, with two
steeples 108 and 250 feet high.
Roxburgh church is a plain Gothic building, with
a neat porch opening into Hill-square, and a rear-
front facing Eichmond-place. — Davie-street church
is a plain large building, formerly belonging to the
Original Secession. — St. Paul's church stands in
St. Leonard-street, nearly opposite the extremity of
Eankeillour-street. It has a plain Roman front,
surmounted by a quadrangular belfry, each of whose
faces is pierced with a wide arch. — Newington and
Liberton church stands on the east side of Clerk-
street, a short distance south of the Established
Newington church. It is a comparatively large
pile, formed upon the nucleus of an originally small
one, and has a Gothic front. — St. John's church
stands on a very steep acclivity, facing the New
Western approach on the west, the Assembly hall
on the north, the West bow on the east, and Vic-
toria street on the south, — almost overhanging on
the last of these sides its namesake of the Establish-
ment. It is in a mixed style of early Gothic, and
displays a considerable amount of pleasing embel-
lishment, but is remarkable chiefly for the manner
in which it adapts itself to its surpassingly awkward
site, having only a moderate elevation on the north,
but standing far aloft like a castle in the air on the
south, and perched there at its apparent foundation
upon an edificed terrace of two stories facing Victo-
ria-street. — St. Cuthbert's church, the Gaelic church,
and the two Chalmers' territorial churches, are struc-
tures of Gothic character, respectively in Spittal-
street, Lothian-road, West-port, and Fountainbridge.
— St. David's church and Dean church are plain
buildings, respectively in Morrison-street and near
the Dean -bridge. — St. Bernard's church, on the
south side of Henderson-row, is a handsome Gothic
erection of 1856, consisting of nave and aisles, with
a small spiral tower.
St. George's church stands on the west side of
Lothian-road, a short distance from the end of
Prince's-street, but throws back its main body in a
direction diagonal to its front, along the line of a
lane which descends to the south-west. It is an
elegant edifice in the Anglo-Norman style, but looks
in some degree like two buildings fused into one.
The architect was Mr. Cousin. The front part, on
which the chief decoration is expended, has a slated
roof parallel to Lothian-road, and exhibits a gable
at each end and a pediment in the centre. The
pediment is pierced with a circular window ; two
beautifully carved turrets flank it ; some well-exe-
cuted mimic arcades, in the Norman fashion of small
attached shafts and arches, adorn the main wall ;
and a very handsome porch, elaborately decorated
with chevron-work, forms the main entrance. — St.
Andrew's church, in George-street, stands behind
the street line, and is entered through a house be-
fore it. — St. Luke's church, in Queen-street, is situ-
ated similarly to St. Andrew's, but has a factitious
street-front, in the Elizabethan style, with two
crocketted turrets. — St. Stephen's church, in Wemyss
place, was formed out of the upper parts of a large
private house, and shows nine lofty windows, sur-
mounted by a broad entablature. — Tolbooth church,
in a lane off North St. David- street, is a Gothic
structure of 1857, with large end window and roof-
lights. — Lady Glenorchy's church, in Greenside-
place, has a factitious front in the Elizabethan style,
with low, broad embattled tower. — St. Mary's church,
in Broughton-street and Albany-street, is a large
beautiful edifice of 1859-61, in late Gothic and Tu-
dor, with a richly carved steeple 180 feet high. — ■
Pilrig church, in Pilrig-street and Leith-walk, is a
structure of 1861-2, in the early decorated Gothic
style, with double transept and a steeple 150 feet
high. — The Assembly-hall, on Castle-hill, is an edi-
fice of 1858-9, in the late Gothic style, built at a cost
of £7,000, and has accommodation for about 1,700
persons.
United Presbyterian Edifices. — The Synod -hall
and offices of the United Presbyterian church are in
Queen-street. A plain porch forms the approach.
A large refitted house, originally a private building,
contains the theological class-rooms, the library-
hall, and the secretary's apartments. And an edi-
fice in the rear, erected in 1847, containing sitting-
accommodation for 1,100 persons, and handsomely
fitted up for the purposes of public business, forms
the Synod-hall. This place is also in great request
on hire for public meetings of an educational or
philanthropic kind, and has hitherto been used as
the lecture-hall of the Edinburgh philosophical in-
stitution. There are five professorships in connec-
tion with the theological hall; but the classes meet
only during the autumnal months.
Arthur-street United Presbyterian church was
originally Baptist, and passed in 1835 to the Eclief
for £2,100. Newington church also was originally
Baptist, and passed in 1847 to the United Secession;
and it will be superseded by a new edifice, in the
early Gothic style, with a tower, founded in 1862.
Nicolson-street church was built in 1819, at a cost
of £6,000, and has a broad Gothic fiont, with turret-
pinnacles, 90 feet high. Potterrow church was
built in 1793, at a cost of £1,290, and repaired in
1831 at a cost of £300. Bristo church, in a court
off Bristo-street, was built in 1802, at a cost of
£4,084, enlarged at a cost of £1,515, and is neat and
very spacious. South College-street church was
rebuilt in 1857, has a front in the Florentine style,
and is roofed and lighted in the manner of a Gothic
clerestory. Infirmary-street church belonged ori-
ginally to the protesting Antiburghers, came into
its present connexion in 1856, and is adorned in
front with only Doric pilasters. North Richmond-
street church is small and neat. The two High-
street churches are places occupied by recently-
formed mission congregations. Laurieston-place
church is a large handsome Gothic structure of
1859. Portsburgh church was built in 1828, at a
cost of £1,947. Union church, in Bread-street, has
a Roman front with pilasters and pediment, and was
built in 1831. Lothian-road church has an Italian
front of three stories, with recessed centre, rusticated
basement and surmounting balustrade, and was built
in 1831. Dean-street church, in Stockbridge, was
built in 1828, at a cost of £2, 100. Rose-street church
was rebuilt in 1830, at a cost of £3,042, and presents
to the street the greater side of an oblong, in Ro-
man architecture, with pilasters and balustrades.
St. James'-place church was built in 1800, at a cost
of £3,600, and repaired in 1828 at a cost of £650