Ross Fountain, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh is a Grade A listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 14 December 1970. Fountain. 1 related planning application.

Ross Fountain, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
hollow-storey-dawn
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
14 December 1970
Type
Fountain
OS grid reference
NT 249 736
Coordinates
55.95007, -3.20307
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Ross Fountain, located in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, is a tall and ornate gilded cast-iron fountain designed by sculptor Jean-Baptiste Klagmann and cast by Antoine Durenne in 1862. The fountain is built in the 2nd Empire style and has a quatrefoil shape. The first tier features lions' heads, scallop-shell basins, and mermaids holding overflowing urns. Above this tier are four female figures symbolizing Science, Art, Industry, and Poetry, topped by a large female figure holding a cornucopia.

Local climate

Ross Fountain, West Princes Street Gardens, 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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