Morningside United Church, 1-3 Morningside Road, Edinburgh

Morningside United Church, 1-3 Morningside Road, Edinburgh

This small Art Deco-Romanesque church was designed by James McLachlan and built between 1926 and 1929. It is constructed of cream sandstone, finished as bull-faced coursed and squared rubble with polished ashlar detailing. The church is distinguished by its gabled side aisles, slender campanile, and associated pavilions, halls and offices positioned behind the chancel to the east.

The western elevation displays the principal entrance frontage. A gabled nave rises at the centre, flanked by clasping buttresses that function as angle pilasters and rise above the wallhead in stylised Art Deco coping featuring a motif of 4 squares in an ashlar panel. A tall tripartite window set within a round-arched panel occupies the gable, ornamented with a carved pelican flanked by A and O symbols at its head. A small arrowslit window pierces the gablehead. Recessed single-bay side aisles with stepped parapets and lancet windows flank the nave. Two small square-plan pavilions with swept pyramidal roofs and arched openings fitted with sliding and folding cast-iron lattice gates stand at either side of the entrance. These are connected to the main gable by a vestibule wall containing 2 arched windows and linked below by a low rubble wall with ashlar diamond balusters and ashlar coping.

The southern elevation features a 3-bay gabled side aisle at the centre, equipped with clasping buttresses and tall bipartite windows set in round-arched panels. Carved roundels ornament each gable, and small arrowslit windows pierce the gableheads. A tall slender square-section campanile rises to the left, with a small doorway in its re-entrant angle. The top stage of the campanile is pierced by bipartite openings to each face, fitted with ashlar mullions and cushion capitals, and topped with a finialled bellcast roof. A flat-roofed vestibule to the left contains 2 paired windows and a single window, forming a link with the entrance pavilion. To the right, a flat-roofed link of 3 paired windows and a depressed-arched doorway provides access to the halls and offices. Above this, 3 tall paired chancel windows occupy the main block, with a mullioned and transomed oculus set above the doorway. A gabled hall to the outer right displays a rectangular bipartite window in a round-arched ashlar panel and an arrowslit window in its gablehead.

The northern elevation replicates the southern elevation's detailing but omits the campanile. A 2-storey separate offices block adjoins to the east, and an additional single window lights the vestibule passage to the west.

The eastern elevation comprises 4 gabled centre bays with rectangular single windows to ground and first-floor levels, and 2 round-arched windows in the gableheads. A hall to the left displays a rectangular bipartite window in an ashlar panel. A 2-storey offices block adjoins to the right, fitted with a secondary door and rectangular single windows. The church windows are square-leaded panes, whilst the offices retain timber sash and case windows with 6-pane upper sashes and 9-pane lower sashes. The roofing is laid in red interlocking tiles with ashlar coped skews throughout.

The interior preserves a plain aesthetic, with a white-washed barrel vault spanning the nave. Barrel vaults at right angles spring from each aisle bay, rising from moulded ashlar corbels and piers of banded ashlar with rounded arrises and moulded capitals. Plain timber pews, choir stalls and pulpit occupy the nave. The organ, manufactured by Cousans & Sons in 1904 and rebuilt in 1955, is positioned in the eastern wall. Distinctive hanging lights are suspended from the arcade arches.

The church retains notable stained glass work: a First World War memorial occupies the centre window of the southern aisle, executed by Ballantine; a Second World War memorial is positioned in the left window of the southern aisle, created by William Wilson.