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

The Sanderson Building, located within the King's Buildings on Robert Stevenson Road in Edinburgh, is a teaching building designed by Robert Lorimer and John F Matthew and constructed between 1929 and 1932. The building is a symmetrical, rectangular structure of two storeys and eleven bays, primarily built of droved buff sandstone ashlar with harled sides and rear elevations. A base course and corniced eaves course are present.

The east elevation, facing the entrance, features an advanced central bay with steps leading to an architraved entrance. A two-leaf timber door is fitted with bronze ring handles. Narrow windows with cills and lintels flank the entrance, with the word "ENGINEERING" inscribed above. A corbelled balcony recess is positioned at the first floor, featuring a segmental-arched window and a scrolled keystone. Above this is a pediment-shaped block with paired volutes on either side and a carved relief panel depicting a figure and a spoked wheel emblem. Cast concrete aprons run between the window levels of the east, south, and north elevations. The south elevation includes an architraved doorway at ground floor level, alongside a later, flat-roofed corridor connecting to the south. The western rear elevation has six harled gable ends, with a three-stage, square-plan tower centrally positioned. The ground floor of the tower features an architraved, round-arched window with quoins, a cornice, and an ashlar band extending vertically with two narrow single windows above. The tower is slightly elevated towards its northeast corner, with a hut located to the north. Single-storey additions extend from the ends of the gables to the south, while a five-bay, two-storey addition obscures the northern gables.

The building’s windows are predominantly steel-framed, containing eight and twelve panes, and it incorporates cast-iron rainwater goods. It has a grey slate, piended roof with gabled rear sections also covered in grey slate and incorporating rooflights.

The interior, inspected in 2015, includes a vaulted entrance vestibule with corbelled corners, a timber reception window with a bell, and inner doors with a large round-arched fanlight. The main entrance hall features a central staircase constructed of synthetic stone, fitted with wrought iron balustrades and a handrail, along with stylised ironwork infills and decorative newel post finials. Square-plan columns flank the staircase, and the hall features timber panelling to dado height and a coffered ceiling. Doors and architraves throughout the building are primarily timber, while the lecture theatre walls have vertical timber panelling to dado height.