North Lighthouse Board, 84 George Street, Edinburgh is a Grade A listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 13 January 1966. Office. 7 related planning applications.

North Lighthouse Board, 84 George Street, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
worn-span-ivy
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh North and Leith MP: Tracy Gilbert (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
13 January 1966
Type
Office
Address
North Lighthouse Board, 84 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3DA
OS grid reference
NT 250 739
Coordinates
55.95255, -3.20154
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

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

Description

The North Lighthouse Board, located at 84 George Street in Edinburgh, was built by Claud Cleghorn between 1786 and 1788. It was reconstructed and unified by Rowand Anderson, Kininmonth & Paul from 1971 to 1973. Originally a three-storey building with a basement and attic, it features a seven-bay pair of houses with flats above, but is now used as a single office. The exterior is made of droved cream sandstone ashlar, which has been stone cleaned.

The center bay is slightly recessed, where a former common stair has been altered; the door has been replaced by a window at ground level. The three left bays have been reinstated as windows, while the three right bays are broader. The inner bay includes an Ionic columned doorpiece set within a segmental arch, featuring a modern timber radiating fanlight and a two-leaf panelled door. A model lighthouse is displayed at the first-floor window, and the building is topped with a mutuled eaves cornice and four matching pilastered tripartite box dormers. The rear elevation has been extended in modern style to the east, while the west retains original rubble with a full-height bow.

The interior includes an elegant timber porch that leads to a broad cross-vaulted Entrance Hall, which features an Ionic columned screen to the left that formerly led to the stair. The south wall displays a painting of a lighthouse, while the west wall has a plaster tableau. A double bow-ended room on the axis, which was the former Dining Room, has a fluted Ionic screen. The former Drawing Room at the front boasts a fine neo-classical carved and gesso chimneypiece, and a room to the southwest has been subdivided but retains a similar chimneypiece. The first and second floors are relatively plain, with the latter containing a former Dining Room of a flat to the southwest, featuring a fluted pilastered sideboard recess and another fine carved and gesso chimneypiece. The eastern section has good quality modern offices, including a brick and stone stair that encloses a lift.

Modern cast-iron railings are present around the property.

Local climate

North Lighthouse Board, 84 George Street, 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 — 7 applications
  • 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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