Lauriston Church, 59 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh is a Grade C listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 23 March 2000. Church. 1 related planning application.

Lauriston Church, 59 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
peeling-gable-dock
Grade
C
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
23 March 2000
Type
Church
Address
Lauriston Church, 59 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9HY
OS grid reference
NT 251 730
Coordinates
55.94458, -3.20019
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Lauriston Church, located at 59 Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, was designed by Archibald Scott and completed in 1859. This rectangular Gothic former church features sparse Early English architectural details. It is constructed from coursed rubble with much blackened ashlar dressings and is supported by buttresses topped with tall flat-topped pyramidal pinnacles.

On the north elevation facing Lauriston Place, the pinnacled buttresses flank a central bay and two outer bays. The entrance features a triple-gabled porch with saw-tooth coping and carved label stops, leading to two-leaf boarded timber doors with ornate cast-iron hinges, all set within hoodmoulded stop-chamfered surrounds. The gables display a trefoil motif, with a quatrefoil at the center, and above the porch is a tall narrow tripartite pointed-arched window framed by colonnettes with annulets. The outer bays have a cill course and hoodmoulded lancets with carved label stops.

The east elevation facing Lauriston Gardens has pinnacled buttresses framing the outer right bay, which includes a tall lancet with a cill course. The remaining six bays feature bipartite stone-mullioned windows in shouldered, stop-chamfered surrounds at both ground and gallery levels, with segmental-arched windows in the basement. The roof has corbelled eaves cornice and three small triangular openings.

The south elevation shows three lanterns above a later addition.

Inside, the church boasts fine slender columns with foliate capitals that support a square-plan gallery fitted with fixed timber pews. The ceiling is ribbed vaulted, and there are three stained glass windows. Paired stairs with plain railings lead from the entrance porch to the gallery, which also features a marble wall plaque memorial.

All windows, except those in the basement which have plate glass in timber sash and case, are fitted with small-pane leaded glazing. The roof is covered with grey slates and has saw-tooth skews, along with two ventilators at the ridge.

Surrounding the church is a low stone-coped wall with decorative cast-iron railings along Lauriston Gardens.

Local climate

Lauriston Church, 59 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings

  1. 77 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh Grade C 25 m
  2. 106, 108, 110 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh Grade B 33 m
  3. Macauley House, 2 Lauriston Gardens, Edinburgh Grade C 43 m
  4. 46 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh Grade B 48 m
  5. Lothian College Of Nursing And Mid-Wifery, 79 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh Grade C 52 m
  6. 40 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh Grade B 63 m
  7. St Catherine's Convent, 4 Lauriston Gardens, Edinburgh Grade B 76 m
  8. Church Of The Sacred Heart, 26 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh Grade A 103 m
  9. Fire Brigade Station, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh Grade A 104 m
  10. Chalmers Hospital, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh Grade B 113 m