Mortuary Chapel, Royal Hospital For Sick Children, Sciennes Road, Edinburgh is a Grade A listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 26 May 2015. Chapel. 1 related planning application.
Mortuary Chapel, Royal Hospital For Sick Children, Sciennes Road, Edinburgh
- WRENN ID
- old-ember-hawk
- Grade
- A
- Local Planning Authority
- City of Edinburgh
- Constituency
- Edinburgh South MP: Ian Murray (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 26 May 2015
- Type
- Chapel
- Address
- Mortuary Chapel, Royal Hospital For Sick Children, Sciennes Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1LF
- OS grid reference
- NT 258 723
- Coordinates
- 55.93865, -3.18853
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Mortuary Chapel at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children on Sciennes Road in Edinburgh was designed by George Washington Browne in 1895 as part of the main hospital building. This single-storey, four-bay chapel has a rectangular plan and features asymmetrical elevations. It is notable for its outstanding mural scheme created by Phoebe Anna Traquair in 1885, which was relocated here in 1895. The chapel is situated at the northeast corner of the main hospital building.
The exterior includes a pair of shouldered arched stone doorways on the left side, set in a slightly advanced double bay. It has a piended roof with a lower mansard at the front elevation, complemented by box dormers. The windows are mullioned leaded bipartite, tripartite, and quad-partite on the east gable, while the rear is constructed of plainer brick with a slate roof and timber windows featuring leaded panes.
Inside, the chapel boasts an exceptional decorative scheme with richly symbolic Arts and Crafts murals by Phoebe Traquair. These murals were originally executed in 1885 at Meadowside House and were transferred to this site under her supervision in 1895. The mural panels above the timber boarded dado rail depict angels singing the Sanctus, surrounded by six horizontal friezes featuring doves, flowers, and rams that represent the six days of creation. There is also an inset panel depicting the Annunciation and Crucifixion, and the coombed ceiling is painted with a cross and circles, symbols of eternal life.
Local climate
Mortuary Chapel, Royal Hospital For Sick Children, Sciennes Road, 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 — 1 application
- 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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