Methodist Central Hall, 2-20 Earl Grey Street, Edinburgh

Methodist Central Hall, 2-20 Earl Grey Street, Edinburgh

This is a three-storey building with attic, designed by Dunn and Findlay between 1899 and 1901. It is a Beaux Arts and Francois I style asymmetrical composition comprising mission halls and offices with shops on the ground floor. The gallery was partitioned by Maclennan and Cunningham in 1936. Originally there were 10 shops with cellarage at ground level to Earl Grey Street. The building is constructed in pinkish sandstone ashlar.

Earl Grey Street Elevation

The elevation to Earl Grey Street consists of nine bays. A prominent domed circular corner tower marks the angle. The lower three-storey bay at the outer right has two single windows to the first floor. At the second floor, there are bipartite windows with a pedimented gablehead breaking the eaves above, flanked by corniced pilasters with ball-finials and scrolls. A decorative carved panel beneath the pediment is dated 1901. Above the shops runs a cornice with foliate decoration, with corniced bands between ground and first floors and to the second floor and attic cills.

The central six-bay block contains the main hall. It features tripartite stone-mullioned windows to the first floor flanked by pilaster strips, with an enriched cornice above. Large stone-mullioned and -transomed windows to the second floor are flanked by Corinthian pilasters on panelled pediments. The gilt letters "Central Hall" appear on the entablature. A modillioned cornice and balustraded parapet crown the main hall block.

The two lower bays to the left have stone-mullioned windows to the first floor, larger to the left. At the second floor, there is a bipartite window to the left and a larger stone-mullioned and -transomed window to the right. At attic level are bipartite stone-mullioned windows with curvilinear pediments breaking the eaves. The corner tower has a copper-clad dome. At ground level, a stop-chamfered surround on the splayed corner contains a timber panelled two-leaf storm door, a glazed inner door, and a wrought-iron gate. Fluted and foliate decoration adorns the corbelling above. The first floor corbels out to a polygonal section, the second floor to a circular section. Two-storey Doric pilasters rise to a corniced entablature.

West Tollcross Elevation

The principal entrance occupies the centre bay. A key-blocked semicircular-arched entrance to the stairs features cast-iron gates and is flanked by chunky Ionic columns on pedestals with entablature and a swept, open-topped pediment. Stone-mullioned and -transomed windows to three central bays appear at the first floor. Stone-mullioned bipartite windows at the second and third floors of the three central bays break the eaves with a triangular pediment and wallhead chimney to the centre; the two outer bays have curvilinear pediments flanked by finialed pilasters. To the outer right is a glazed shop front at ground level, with a transomed window at the first floor and a single window at the second. To the outer left a single window occupies the ground floor; the floors above are blank.

Dunbar Street Elevation

The elevation to Dunbar Street is asymmetrical across three bays, with a gabled section to the right and a gablehead stack. It is constructed in bull-faced sandstone with ashlar dressings. Stone-mullioned bipartite windows appear with transoms to the first floor right and third floor left.

Interior

Beyond the cast-iron gates at the top of a flight of steps are two two-leaf timber panelled glazed doors with bevelled glass. The stairs lead to a crush hall with mosaic floor and panelled ceiling. The main auditorium space is wagon-roofed with an arcaded gallery. A depressed arch forms the proscenium. Gas light-fittings remain. Timber-panelled meeting rooms have stained glass to their partitions and doors. Door furniture is raised brass in the Art Nouveau style.

Windows and Roof

Small-pane leaded glass, clear and with Glasgow-style Art Nouveau stained glass, lights the hall and stair. The remaining windows are six-pane upper sashes with plate glass lower sashes, set in timber sash and case frames. The roof is covered in graded greenish-grey Westmoreland slates with stone skews. Corniced wallhead and gablehead chimneys with circular cans crown the walls. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative hoppers serve the building.