Leith Academy Primary School, St Andrew Place, Edinburgh

Leith Academy Primary School, dated 1898 and designed by George Craig, is a large, three-storey and basement, 18-bay rectangular school building constructed in a Free Renaissance style. The front elevation faces north and is of red sandstone ashlar with cream sandstone detailing, while the rear and sides are of cream sandstone rubble with red dressings.

The main north elevation features a squat, four-storey entrance tower in the centre, with paired angle pilasters and tripartite windows. A tall, round-arched doorway is centrally positioned, flanked by windows with scrolled panels above, a two-leaf panelled door, and a radial fanlight. Above this is a semi-circular balcony with a balustraded parapet, and a balustraded apron sits below the third-floor tripartite window. The tower is topped by a French pavilion roof with an arcaded, louvred, squared dome cupola and a gilt weathervane. Flanking the tower are three recessed bays with regular window placement and bearing the inscription 'Leith Academy'. To either side of the recessed bays are three-bay advanced pavilions, with bays divided by pilasters and bipartite windows. Balustraded aprons are present at the first and second floors, and the second-floor centre window is round-arched, breaking the eaves in a pediment.

The west elevation is six bays wide, with regular window placement. An advanced stairtower is located to the right of centre, featuring tall, transomed tripartite windows, with a round-arched top floor. Attached to this tower is a swagged clock tower topped by a finialled copper dome and a polygonal, arcaded cupola with a leaded ogival roof. A bay to the far outer right is blank, displaying a panel commemorating the opening of 'Leith Academy & Technical College'. A shouldered wallhead stack is located to the outer left.

The east elevation includes a stair tower in the centre, featuring transomed tripartite windows and a similar cupola as the west elevation. Irregularly spaced windows fill the flanking bays, with a shouldered wallhead stack on the outer left.

The south (rear) elevation presents a broad, advanced centre bay with four closely spaced windows. The outer bays feature regular window placement, and a shouldered wallhead stack stands to the outer right.

The building has six-pane timber hopper windows and a grey slate piended roof with metal flashings, complemented by three wallhead stacks. A moulded eaves gutter runs around the building.

The interior includes decorative tiled dadoes in the hall, stairs, and corridors, along with glass screen walls with border glazing. A corbelled janitor's box features a large projecting clock, and decorative ironmongery is on the doors.

Stylised gatepiers with domed and finialled coping and inscribed lettering mark the entrances, accompanied by low rubble walls with plain railings.