Sanderson Building, University Of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Robert Stevenson Road, Edinburgh

Robert Lorimer and John F Matthew, 1929-32. Symmetrical 2-storey, 11-bay, rectangular-plan teaching building constructed of droved buff sandstone ashlar, harled to sides and rear. The building has a base course and a corniced eaves course. The east (entrance) elevation has an advanced central bay with steps up to architraved entrance. There is a 2-leaf timber door with bronze ring handles. Narrow windows with cills and lintels flank to either side and 'ENGINEERING' inscribed above. There is a corbelled balcony recess at the 1st floor with a segmental-arched window and a scrolled keystone. There is a pediment-shaped block above, with paired volutes to either side. To the centre of the block is a carved relief panel with a figure and a spoked wheel emblem. The windows at the 1st and 2nd floors of the east, south and north elevations have cast concrete aprons between them, dividing the floor levels. The south elevation has an architraved doorway to ground floor with a later, flat-roofed linking corridor to the south. The west (rear) elevation has 6 harled gable ends with an integrated 3-stage, square-plan tower near the centre. The tower has an architraved round-arched window with quoins and cornice to the ground floor. Above the window is an ashlar band running vertically with 2 narrow single windows. The tower is slightly higher towards its northeast angle. There is a hut to the north of the tower. There are single storey additions to the ends of gables to the south. The gables to north are obscured by a 5-bay, 2-storey addition.

The building has predominantly steel-framed 8- and 12-pane windows and has cast-iron rainwater goods. It has a grey slate, piended roof. The roofs to the rear of the main block are gabled with grey slates and roof-lights.

The interior was seen in 2015. The entrance vestibule has a vaulted ceiling with corbelled corners. There is a timber reception window with a bell. The inner doors have a large round-arched fanlight. The main entrance hall has an advancing central staircase of synthetic stone with wrought iron balustrades and handrail. The balustrade has stylised ironwork infills at intervals and decorative newel post finials. There are square-plan columns flanking the staircase. The entrance hall has timber panels to dado height and the ceiling is coffered. Doors and architraves throughout the building are predominantly timber. The lecture theatre walls have vertical timber pannelling to dado height.