Free Church Of Scotland College And Offices, 15 North Bank Street, Edinburgh

The Free Church of Scotland College and Offices, located at 15 North Bank Street in Edinburgh, was built between 1723 and 1727, with alterations made by Sydney Mitchell and Wilson in 1901. This seven-storey building, which includes an attic, features a four-bay office layout. It has a central crow-stepped gable with two windows and tall conical-roofed angle turrets that have arrowslit windows. The rear of the building has five storeys, an attic, and a basement. The exterior is constructed of rubble with polished dressings, and the rear is harled. The windows are adorned with corniced architraves and are regularly spaced, with smaller windows on the sixth and attic storeys. The entrance includes a two-leaf timber panelled door, with a two-leaf glazed inner door featuring a decorative fanlight, all set within a key-blocked round-arched surround that has a pilastered and corniced doorpiece, complete with decorative carving and strapwork.

On the rear elevation, known as James Court, there is a taller two-window crowstep-gabled block at the center, flanked by three bays to the right and four bays to the left. The outer right side features a timber boarded door with a small-pane glazed fanlight in a roll-moulded surround. The basement area is enclosed with cast-iron railings.

Inside, the vestibule showcases corniced timber panelling, a decorative plaster frieze, and a compartmented ceiling. The College Dining Room also features corniced timber panelling, a bolection-moulded timber chimneypiece framed by a pilastered and pedimented aedicule, and geometrically compartmented plasterwork on the ceiling. The Senate Hall includes a compartmented plaster ceiling, likely concealing fireproof construction, two decorative timber chimneypieces with cast-iron inserts, and glazed timber bookcases. The windows throughout the building have two-pane upper sashes and plate glass lower sashes in timber sash and case frames, while the attic windows feature small-pane glazing. The stacks are rendered.