Fire Station, Sciennes House Place, Edinburgh

The fire station at Sciennes House Place in Edinburgh was designed by Robert Morham, the City Architect, in 1885. It is a single and two-storey, four-bay structure built from squared and snecked sandstone rubble, featuring stugged ashlar dressings and a base course with chamfered reveals.

On the south elevation, there are three nearly symmetrical single-storey bays that serve as the station garage, located in the center and to the right. The central opening has been widened at a later date and features a concrete structure with an iron beam and a stone corbelled lintel above, along with a blocking course. Flanking gabled bays provide additional garage entrances; the left bay has a corbelled and roll-moulded lintel with a carved "Fire Station" panel above, positioned below the cill of a loft door in the gablehead. The outer right bay includes a taller garage door with a stone corbelled lintel and a bull's-eye window in the gablehead, which has a moulded surround and a deep-set window grille. To the outer left, there is a piend-roofed two-storey station-office bay with a chamfered outer angle and a canted first floor. This bay features two detached cast-iron columns on a stone base course, standing in front of an irregular tripartite window at the ground floor, which is protected by a wrought-iron window guard. A narrow pedestrian door is located to the outer left in the chamfered angle. There is a cill course for a single window at the centre of the first floor, aligned with the blocking course.

The rear elevation consists of a single-storey piend-roofed range that is attached to the outer bays of the south elevation. It has a chamfered northeast angle with a door, windows at the east and west ends, and another door to the north.

The building features irregular glazing patterns, with panelled folding garage doors that include both glazed sections and small-paned panels. The roof is covered with grey slates and includes lead flashing, which is scalloped on the office roof, along with a finial. Additional features include a ridge ventilator, a skylight, and a louvered timber ventilator on the flat-roofed garage bay at the centre, as well as a set-off wallhead stack for the office, which has been altered. The gableheads and blocking course are topped with gablet coping and gablet skewputts.

Inside, the outer right garage bay is lined with enamel tiles, and there are timber stairs leading to the office.

Flanking the east side of the south elevation are gatepiers made of stugged sandstone ashlar, corniced and topped with pyramidal caps.