Roseburn Primary School, 64 Roseburn Street, Edinburgh

Roseburn Primary School, 64 Roseburn Street, Edinburgh

This is a three-storey Renaissance school building in a T-plan, designed by Robert Wilson and built in 1893. The school is constructed of squared and snecked red sandstone rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring an advanced base course, cill courses to the upper floors, skews and skewputts, strip quoins, and mullioned and transomed windows. A distinctive white ogee-roofed cupola crowns the building.

The principal south-east elevation is symmetrical, displaying a 2-3-3-2 grouping of bays with an advanced two-storey gabled central section. The centre of the ground floor has tripartite mullioned and transomed windows, with transomed windows flanking. Between the two storeys is relief lettering reading 'ROSEBURN SCHOOL'. The upper floor features a mullioned tripartite window, surmounted by a cornice and semicircular moulding with a tympanum inscribed 'AD 1893', with single windows to either side. A blind arrow-slit pierces the gable, and ball finials terminate the skewputts. The recessed flanking sections on both floors have single transomed windows at ground level. The centre of the upper floor breaks the eaves with a gable-headed, mullioned bipartite window and cornice. The recessed gabled three-storey flanking sections contain recessed round-headed doorways at ground level marked 'GIRLS' and 'BOYS' respectively, each surmounted by a corniced decorative panel. These doorways are flanked on the outer sides by mullioned bipartite windows, with mullioned tripartite windows to both upper floors.

The north-east elevation features an advanced section to the left with an advanced corniced bay at ground containing a tripartite mullioned window. A single window stands to its left, with three windows above in the upper storey and a shouldered wallhead stack. A panelled timber door is set within the ground floor of a gabled return, surmounted by two small mullioned windows with a cornice above. A tall window flanks to the right, with a tripartite window at the uppermost storey. A chamfered window addresses the re-entrant angle. To the right is a recessed three-bay section with mullioned bipartite windows at ground and first-floor levels to the left, and a single window to the right above the chamfered window. The top floor features a bipartite window with cornice and balustrade breaking the eaves. To the right are transomed and mullioned bipartite windows at ground level, with mullioned bipartite windows flanked by pilasters above. A gable to the central bay is pierced by a round window breaking the eaves, and a cornice and balustrade break the eaves to the bay at the right.

The north-west (rear) elevation is three storeys throughout. An advanced three-bay section to the left contains mullioned bipartite windows flanked by single windows at ground, mullioned and transomed windows at first-floor level flanked by transomed windows, and mullioned bipartite windows flanked by single windows at the second floor. A recessed four-bay section to the right has single windows at ground, tripartite mullioned and transomed windows at first-floor level flanked by transomed windows, and a mullioned tripartite window to the centre of the second floor breaking the eaves in a gable, with single windows to the flanking bays. A panelled timber door with a tripartite fanlight is positioned to the left of the ground level of a return section. Single windows occupy two bays to the right, with a tall transomed window and a single window further right at first-floor level. A recessed gabled section to the outer right has a chamfered window in the re-entrant angle, with a panelled timber door surmounted by two small mullioned windows at ground level, flanked on the left by a tall single window. A single window occupies the left side of the floor above, with a mullioned tripartite window at the second floor.

The south-west elevation was not inspected in 2001.

The roof is covered with green Tilberthwaite slates. Gablehead sandstone ashlar stacks to the side and rear are corniced, with moulded cylindrical terracotta cans. The windows throughout are a variety of multi-paned timber sash and case windows. The cupola features a corniced base, dentilled cornice, and flagpole. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods serve the building.

A separate janitor's house stands on the site. This is a two-storey rectangular-plan building constructed of squared and snecked red sandstone rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring strip quoins, mullioned and transomed windows, and coped skews with ball finials to the front elevation. Tripartite windows occupy the ground floor of the gabled front elevation, with bipartite windows to the floor above, surmounted by a cornice and round-headed moulding enclosing a plain tympanum. A lean-to entrance porch with a flanking window stands at the ground of the right-hand side elevation. A round-headed skew with skewputts frames a window to the left of the upper floor, which breaks the eaves, with a flanking slit window. The rear elevation has an irregular distribution of windows. A shouldered sandstone ashlar wallhead stack with cylindrical terracotta cans stands to the left-hand side. The house has a slate roof and painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Modern PVCu glazing has been installed.

The boundary treatment comprises coping stones with modern railings to the street front, wrought-iron gates with decorative finials, and corniced gatepiers with ball finials.