Lady Haig Poppy Factory (former McLagan and Cumming print works), Edinburgh

Lady Haig Poppy Factory (formerly McLagan and Cumming print works), Edinburgh

A former printing and lithographic works dating from the early 1890s, designed in a simple Scots Renaissance revival style. The building comprises a main block from the 1890s with a long rectangular-plan addition dating from around 1925, located on Warriston Road on the southern bank of the Water of Leith.

The main 1890s block is roughly rectangular in plan with ashlar red sandstone as its principal material. The remaining sections are constructed of polychromatic brick. An octagonal-plan chimney projects from a rear roof. Windows are a mixture of single and two-pane timber sash and case windows and non-traditional replacements. The 1925 addition has ten-pane metal-framed windows at ground floor level on its principal north elevation, with non-traditional uPVC replacements elsewhere. The slate roofs are predominantly pitched or piended, with roof lights including those spanning the length of the former machine room and drying room.

The interior of the 1890s block contains a series of offices at the north, with the former machine room, drying room and chimney positioned to the south. The offices are plainly detailed with simple cornicing and panelled window surrounds. The former machine room is open-plan and retains its early flooring, cast iron pillars and exposed metal roof trusses. The 1925 addition contains former litho preparation rooms on the ground floor. The first floor, which originally housed a recreation hall and design studios, has been subdivided to form a board room and offices with lowered ceilings.

A low red sandstone boundary wall with painted iron railings and gates surrounds the entrance on Warriston Road.

The McLagan and Cumming printing firm was established in 1872 and moved to this site in 1891. The original building was constructed between 1891 and 1894. In 1899, architect William C. Laidlaw designed a large proposed extension to the southeast containing a new machine room, drying room and artist's room. Further additions were made to the northeast in 1911, which was later demolished in the later 20th century. The 1925 western addition was built with a gabled main elevation topped with finials in red sandstone, designed to complement the late 19th century façade. It contained a lithography preparing room and lithography artist room on the ground floor and recreation hall and design studio on the first floor. A single-storey rectangular-plan addition to the south, housing plant and storage, was designed by Rowand Anderson, Kininmonth & Paul in 1958.

The printworks closed around the early 1960s. In 1965, the Lady Haig Poppy Factory relocated here from Panmure Close, 127 Canongate. The Lady Haig Poppy Factory was established in 1926, employing men disabled during the First World War to make poppies for Scotland, which were sold to help veterans with employment and housing. The building remains in use as such today.

Excluded from the listing in accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 are the adjoining late 20th century two-storey flat-roofed offices to the southwest and the flat-roofed covered entrance corridor to the south.