Leith St Andrew's Church, 410-412 Easter Road, Leith, Edinburgh

Leith St Andrew's Church, 410-412 Easter Road, Leith, Edinburgh

A Gothic church designed by Hardy & Wight and constructed in 1880-1, with an additional hall added in 1902. The building follows a T-plan, oriented north-east to south-west, with a tall tower and spire positioned at the north end and a corresponding transeptal porch and stair tower at the north end of the south-east elevation.

The main body comprises a five-bay rectangular nave with shallow transepts at the south end, aisles connecting to entrance porches, and a gallery at the north-east end. A hall is positioned transversely at the south-west end wall of the church. The walls are constructed of stugged, squared and snecked sandstone with polished ashlar dressings, droved at arrises.

The prominent tower rises through five stages and is topped with an octagonal ashlar spire. The north-west face features a moulded chamfered pointed-arch doorway of double order with a hoodmould and floral stops above. Clasping buttresses rise from the ground floor, with a band and string course at the first floor level. Double lancets with hoodmoulds and floral stops light the first floor, while triple lancets appear at the second floor and a single lancet at the third. The upper belfry stage contains a pointed-arch window with louvres, topped by a hoodmould with floral stops. A blind arcaded and cusped parapet with square corner pinnacles crowns the tower. The octagonal ashlar spire features stone dormers on four faces and an iron weathervane at its apex. Two-leaf doors with iron handles and nails access the tower. An octagonal stair tower adjoins to the north, with a circular upper stage and slit windows.

The nave and transepts are two-storey structures arranged in five bays. Along both side elevations, three centre bays are framed by buttresses with a base course at ground floor cill level. Lean-to aisles at ground floor contain double lancets in each bay, while four-centred, tripartite clerestory windows with plate tracery light each upper bay, with cornices at eaves. Gabled transepts occupy the southernmost bays, each featuring two lancets with hoodmoulds and floral stops, and the north-west transept displays a carved Celtic cross at its apex. A two-storey gabled porch occupies the penultimate bay on the south elevation, with an adjoining stair tower to its outer right. This porch has a pointed-arch doorway of single order on brackets with a damaged hoodmould and floral stops above, flanking buttresses, and a bipartite window in the gablehead. A chamfered and buttressed stair tower with slit windows occupies the corner.

The north-east gable end elevation displays three bays framed to first floor level by diagonal buttresses. The ground floor centre bay is framed by buttresses with double lancets and hoodmoulds with floral stops, while above stands a triple lancet centred with hoodmoulds and floral stops, a slit window lighting the gablehead. The corresponding south-west gable features a stepped triple lancet with hoodmoulds.

The two-storey hall features windows in its end gables. A lean-to entrance porch on the north-west elevation contains a bipartite slit window, flanked by bipartite windows at ground floor. A five-light window with plate tracery sits in a pointed-arched opening. The south-east wall has a modern timber window and render. Coloured glass leaded windows fill all openings except the upper windows of the transepts and south-west gable, with decorative stained glass from 1881 by James Ballantine & Son. Plate glass timber sash and case windows light the west end of the hall. Grey slate roofs cover the nave, transepts, hall, porches, and porches, with a conical cap to the north stair tower. A metal-covered ventilator plinth centres the nave ridge. Cast-iron profiled gutters run at eaves, with downpipes between bays featuring decorative hoppers and brackets. A coped chimney stack rises at the apex of the south-west gable.

The interior features three-bay side aisle arcades with pointed arches and squat ashlar piers. A large symmetrical decorative timber organ casing centres the south-west wall. The sanctuary floor comprises grey marble steps leading to white shell pattern mosaic with black pattern detail. Flanking the sanctuary are octagonal arcaded font and pulpit, both of Dalmeny stone with Italian marble columns, with the pulpit accessed by a stone stair with brass handrails. A brass lectern, communion table, benches, and chairs occupy the centre. Timber pews from 1880 stand on raised timber floors with cast-iron legs and brass umbrella stands to plain ends. A timber gallery at the south-west end features diagonally-boarded panels supported by cast-iron columns with capitals. Vertical timber boarded wainscoting lines the ground floor outer walls, porches, gallery and gallery stair. A modern screen in the east transept creates a small chapel containing furniture relocated from St Andrew's Place Church.

The nave is covered by a scissor-truss open timber roof with wallposts onto carved stone semi-octagonal brackets. Quatrefoil decoration runs along the wallhead including the side aisles. Pointed-arch doorways to porches contain timber doors and coloured leaded glass windows above. A stone stair with timber handrail featuring turned balusters and ball finials at newels accesses the gallery. A timber gallery door with six diagonally boarded panels serves the upper level. A classical carved wood war memorial, relocated from St Andrew's Place Church, stands in the tower entrance porch. A trefoil-arched recess marks the south-east wall. The vestry to the south contains a rooflight and decorative cast-iron chimneypiece with integral mirror. The hall interior is modern, with gluelam trusses and a stone stair to a gallery room at the west end.

An additional hall from 1977 adjoins to the south with a session room above.

A cast-iron lamp standard adjacent to the Easter Road entrance features a box base inscribed with war memorial dedications to members of the 3rd Company of the Boy's Brigade from 1914-18, with an additional plaque commemorating the same unit in the 1939-45 war. The standard has a decorative stem and lamp fitting with glass globe. Modern railings rise over a dwarf wall, with original wrought-iron gate posts surviving next to the hall porch.