Merchant Company Hall, 20 Hanover Street, Edinburgh

The Merchant Company Hall, located at 22 Hanover Street in Edinburgh, is a large three-storey and attic building with six bays, designed in the Italianate style by David Bryce Jnr between 1865 and 1866. It originally served as a bank and underwent internal alterations by MacGibbon and Ross in 1879. The front was modified to form a U-plan by T P Marwick in 1901, and it was restored by L Graham MacDougall in 1959. The exterior is made of polished, cream sandstone ashlar.

On the Hanover Street elevation, the outer bays are set forward and feature canted windows on both the ground and first floors. There is a pedimented porch supported by fluted paired Corinthian columns at the northern angle, and shell-headed windows at the ground level. The Rose Street elevation has five bays on the ground and first floors and three bays on the second floor, with similar detailing as the Hanover Street side. The hall at the rear has a domed roof, with three bays featuring arched windows facing Rose Street and five bays facing the lane. The building has timber sash and case 12-pane windows and a piended copper roof.

Inside, the original telling room has been converted into the Hall, which was once lined with Corinthian columns, although most of these have been removed. The attic features putti representing Trade, Industry, and the Arts. The remaining rooms and staircase exhibit good detailing from the 1879 alterations, and there is an additional banking hall to the south with a Corinthian screen.