Oddfellows Hall, 18 Forrest Road, Edinburgh

Oddfellows Hall, located at 18 Forrest Road in Edinburgh, was designed by John C Hay in 1872. This three-storey and attic, three-bay symmetrical Scots Baronial tenement features shops on the ground floor and an obliquely-set hall at the rear.

The building includes a semi-circular stair tower at the back and an arcade of tall stilted-arched windows on the first floor. It has tall square-plan turrets on the outer bays, which are connected by a quatrefoil detail parapet. The central gable is crow-stepped and features a sculpture on a pedestal at its apex. The exterior is made of coursed rock-faced sandstone with polished dressings. The ground floor shops have pilastered fronts with foliate capitals, segmental-arched openings, and a continuous moulded cornice with mask end brackets. Above the shops, there is a polished cill band on the first floor, which includes an elaborately carved panel featuring heraldic beasts, shields, and a motto. The second floor has bipartite windows in stop-chamfered surrounds on the outer bays, with a central carved panel that reads "ODDFELLOWS HALL" alongside a symbol of a heart and hand, and a high relief sculpture group above. The attic floor features a corbel table, paired turrets with gargoyles at their base, and foliate capitals with moulding above the windows and eaves cornices.

The shopfronts have modern plate glazing, while the windows above are traditional timber sash and case with plate glass. The roof is pitched with a piended roof over the hall, covered in grey slates, and there are corniced rendered stacks with circular cans.

Inside, as seen in 2001, there are cast-iron columns that support the former galleries in the hall.