Free Tolbooth Church, 23 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

The Free Tolbooth Church, located at 23 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, was originally designed by William Chambers and built between 1770 and 1772. Significant alterations and additions followed in the 19th and 20th centuries, including refacing and the addition of a Telling Room by David Bryce in 1846, the construction of the Free Tolbooth Church to the rear also by David Bryce in 1858, and internal modifications by Dick Peddie and Walker Todd in 1929 and L.A. Jamieson in 1932. The building is a 3-storey basement and attic Italian Renaissance-style terraced office building with 5 bays. It is constructed of polished cream sandstone ashlar. The fenestration is regular, with moulded architraves. A moulded, open, pedimented Ionic porch is located at ground level to the inner right bay, flanked by further doors. Windows to the two left bays have bracketed cills and panelled aprons. The first floor features a consoled ashlar balcony and balustrade, with windows having consoled pediments. A continuous cill course runs along the second floor. A modillioned cornice sits above, supporting a balustraded parapet that largely conceals a pair of early bowed dormers.

The building extends to the rear towards North St Andrews Lane, displaying a stepped pyramidal composition in squared snecked and stugged sandstone. A large flat-arched entrance at ground level has been filled in as a window. Timber sash and case windows with multiple panes are used throughout. Ashlar coped mutual skews are present, alongside rendered mutual stacks and grey slate roofing.

The interior is divided into two distinct blocks, at the front and rear of the building. Access is provided via three doors: the left door leads directly into a front room with a dentilled cornice; the centre door leads to the main stair and a rear banking hall; and the right door provides separate access to what were previously Actuaries’ premises, situated above the banking hall. The staircase features cast-iron lattice work banisters. The former Banking Hall is characterised by two rows of columns and piers with stylized Greek capitals, a trabeated ceiling, and a five-light window to the rear. A second staircase is of plain square cast-iron. The building includes a barrel-vaulted cupola with a modillioned cornice. On the first floor are a series of rooms, some with two bays, and others with three bays. One room features a Greek white marble chimneypiece, ceiling rose and plain double doors leading to a large rear room containing a tripartite window, panelled dado, a matching chimneypiece and ceiling rose, and a glazed entrance screen. There is also an entrance lobby for the rear premises. The second floor includes a mix of plain chimneypieces, alongside marble, slate and timber features, with a timber staircase leading to an attic flat. A panelled lobby leads to the Actuaries’ Hall at the rear, which is lined with bookcases, features a dais at the far end, and is lit by side windows. A war memorial featuring linenfold panelling is present, as is a simple trabeated ceiling. A meeting room is located beyond, with a chimneybreast flanked by Corinthian pilasters; the original chimneypiece was stolen.

Fine cast-iron star motif railings are located externally.