Berkeley Casino, 2 Rutland Place, Edinburgh

Berkeley Casino, 2 Rutland Place, Edinburgh

A three-storey, two-bay neo-Norman building originally designed as a church by David Cousin in 1842–3. The rear elevation was refaced by Wardrop and Reid in 1882, with later alterations. The building is constructed of polished cream sandstone ashlar with polished dressings; the basement at the rear is faced in droved sandstone ashlar.

The northwest (Rutland Place) elevation features a base course and cavetto-moulded string course to the ground floor at the springing of round-arched openings. An overlapping blind arcaded frieze sits below a chevron-patterned cornice to the first-floor bow. The first floor of the right-hand bay has a chevron-patterned cill course to its blind arcade, with a cill course to a smaller blind arcade above (obscured by the left-hand bow). Both bays at the second floor have cill courses, and a band course follows the gableheads, which have coped skews. The bays are divided at the second floor by piers with nook shaft angles, dentil cornices, and arcaded caps.

The ground floor of the left bay contains a two-storey bow with nook shafts supporting a multi-moulded round-arched doorpiece with a pitched roof. Modern glazed two-leaf doors with an infilled semicircular fanlight occupy this entrance. Carved blind fretwork beneath the gablehead features dentil moulding, with an oculus to the left of the doorway. The ground floor of the right bay has paired doorways, the outer one converted to a window with a dentil-moulded apron; the inner doorway retains a two-leaf timber door with a gothic small-pane fanlight. The nook shafts supporting the multi-moulded round-headed openings carry an assortment of rosette, chevron, animal-head, and other ornamental motifs on their mouldings. The first floor of the left bay displays nook shafts and ornamental mouldings to three evenly spaced lights, while the right bay has moulded overlapping round arches forming a blind arcade with recessed moulding above. At the second floor of both gables, three evenly spaced windows feature nook shafts and chevron mouldings, with quatrefoil windows to each gablehead.

The southeast (Rutland Street) elevation has two storeys and a basement across five bays, arranged in near-symmetrical form. Each basement bay contains a bipartite window, truncated beneath an oversailing porch. A replacement timber door with a segmental fanlight occupies the penultimate bay to the left. The entrance porch, positioned in the bay right of centre, oversails the basement and features nook shafts supporting a chevron-moulded round-arched doorpiece topped with a Celtic cross finial. Round-arched bipartites flank the entrance on each return, with windows to all remaining bays at ground and first-floor levels.

The rear elevation combines features from both Cousin's original design and Wardrop and Reid's 1882 refacing. A band course sits between the basement and ground floor, with a cill course to the first floor. A complex round-arch spanning paired-arch frieze sits below the cornice and parapet. Chamfered reveals frame mullioned and transomed basement windows. Nook shafts support round-arched bipartite windows at ground floor, with similar treatment at first-floor level where a spanning round arch and centred oculus are present.

The north-east and south-west elevations are obscured by adjoining buildings.

The roof is covered in grey slate with coped skews. Common ashlar coped multi-flue stacks are present. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout. Leaded windows appear on the northwest elevation and to the returns of the rear portal; aluminium frames are used for the remaining windows at the rear. Basement windows are partially louvred.

Decorative wrought-iron railings sit on an ashlar cope along the rear elevation. An ashlar pier with triangular-headed panels and spear-headed railings stands to the left of the rear entrance. A railing-mounted iron lamp standard with a glass globe and drum well is positioned to the right of the entrance.

The interior was not inspected in 1999.