Fine Art Department, Central Public Library, George Iv Bridge, Edinburgh

The Fine Art Department of the Central Public Library on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh was designed by John Henderson and built between 1836 and 1837. This three-storey building features a Baronial/Jacobean style with a corner block that has four bays facing George IV Bridge and five bays along Victoria Street. The exterior is finished in polished ashlar and includes a cornice at the ground floor, a modillioned eaves course, and a pierced strapwork parapet. The corners are accentuated by panelled pilaster strips topped with stylised finials. The building has a regular arrangement of windows, with modillioned cornices above the first-floor windows and projecting cills with central heraldic devices above the second-floor windows.

On the east elevation facing George IV Bridge, there is a pierced parapet with ball finials above a first-floor balcony, which features strap-work decoration over the first-floor windows. The outer left side has a two-leaf timber door that is decoratively panelled, accompanied by a small-pane glazed fanlight. Above this door is a projecting balcony that supports a sculpture group. There is also a two-leaf timber panelled door located in the second bay from the right.

The north elevation facing Victoria Street includes a timber panelled door with glazed panels set in a depressed-arched surround on the outer right side, while the centre of the first floor has a blind window.

Inside, the third floor contains a top-lit reading room with a kingpost roof. The windows throughout the building feature small-pane glazing, with timber sash and case windows on the ground and second floors, and top hoppers on the first floor. The stacks are integrated into solid panels of the parapet, with circular cans.