Workshops And Leading Light, Northern Lighthouse And Buoy Depot, 22 West Harbour Road, Granton, Edinburgh

Workshops and Leading Light, Northern Lighthouse and Buoy Depot

A later 19th-century warehouse with corner tower and lighthouse lantern cupola, altered in the earlier 20th century when most of the upper floor was added. The main building is a 2-storey, 15-bay warehouse constructed in red brick with yellow brick angle dressings in parts and stone sills to windows. A single-storey outhouse range stands to the east of the yard.

The north elevation fronting West Harbour Road features a stone step to a former entrance (now converted to a window) to the right, with 2 windows to the left and 3 to the first floor, all regularly disposed. A stone eaves cornice runs along the top. Yellow brick angle dressings appear to the ground floor, including around the window reveals. Stone steps lead up to an entrance serving a canted bay (a 1920s alteration), with a window above and prominent yellow brick angle dressings and eaves cornice. A low corner tower rises from the right corner of the building above the eaves cornice, with yellow brick corner dressings and surmounted by a circular lighthouse lantern cupola with lattice-type glazing and a domed metal roof.

The east elevation comprises 15 bays separated by strip pilasters, with a brick cornice. All bays except the 4 to the right (including the canted bay) have had an upper storey added in the 20th century. Ground floor loading entrances occur at the 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 13th bays: those at the 2nd and 13th bays are segmental-arched with 2-leaf boarded timber doors, whilst those at the 5th and 9th bays have wider entrances with 2-leaf sliding timber doors. A narrowed entrance with rectangular fanlight and metal door serves the 10th bay. Regular fenestration is found elsewhere, except for 2 bays to the far left, which are probably an early addition and have taller openings at ground floor level only. Yellow brick dressings accent the pilasters and most windows, more prominently on the upper storey. A corrugated metal structure adjoins at right angles to the left.

The west elevation also comprises 15 bays divided by pilasters as the east elevation and is largely blank, except for a bay to the far right (possibly slightly later) with 2 later 20th-century windows inserted to the second floor. A small ground floor extension adjoins a corrugated metal structure at right angles to the right.

Windows throughout are principally 12-pane timber sash and case and fixed frame types. Slate roofs cover the building, including a taller piended platform roof to 4 bays to the north, which defines the original 2-storey section.

The interior contains timber floors supported on 2 rows of cast-iron columns. A glazed boarded timber screen separates an office section to the north of the ground floor. Lever-operated cast-iron hoisting equipment with an adjacent trap door and railed surround is located at the north end of the first floor.

The outhouse range encloses a yard containing some intact stone setts to the west. The storage block is probably slightly later than the warehouse, with a 20th-century addition to the south. The main section has a piended slate roof and was formerly open-sided to the west, supported on cast-iron columns, of which only 2 now remain to the right. Short sections of brick wall with closely spaced entrances line the left, mostly boarded timber doors with rectangular fanlights. The east wall is formed by an adjacent brick structure. An earlier 20th-century former smithy adjoins to the south, featuring a stone base course, a central entrance with stone lintel and boarded timber stable door, and a window with stone lintel to the right return. It has a flat roof with a coped brick stack topped with a round can at the northeast corner. A short flat-roofed section set back to the south has an entrance with stone lintel and boarded timber door with rectangular fanlight, and adjoins a large corrugated metal structure to the south.