St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Palmerston Place, Edinburgh

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, situated on Palmerston Place in Edinburgh, is a significant ecclesiastical building constructed in the Gothic Revival style, drawing inspiration from early Gothic sources and executed on a monumental scale. The cathedral was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and completed by his son, John Olrid Scott, between 1874 and 1890. A chapter house was added by J. Olrid Scott in 1891, while Charles Marriot Scott contributed to the west spires between 1913 and 1917. The cathedral is built of squared and snecked sandstone with some ashlar quoins. The exterior is characterized by tall pointed arch windows, with quatrefoils at the clerestory, restrained tracery, single colonettes, and buttressed set-back corner angles.

The west elevation is symmetrical and divided into six parts, featuring buttressed towers that flank a three-part entrance. A deeply recessed and intricately carved doorway sits at the centre, flanked by blind arches with gablets. The tympanum depicts Christ in a mandorla. Above is a wheel window set within a carved arched recess, with four lancet windows below. The three tall west towers comprise three stages with blind arcading, and angled buttresses support corbelled turrets, pinnacles, and octagonal, lucarned spires.

The interior, a scholarly Gothic Revival design, also draws on early Gothic sources. The six-bay nave features quadripartite vaulted aisles, supported by alternate round-plan and octagonal-plan piers with foliate capitals. A timber tunnel roof is supported by corbelled colonettes extending from the arches and pier capitals, crossing the triforium and clerestory. Paired pointed arched openings are present at the triforium, and at the clerestory, featuring quatrefoils above, all set within pointed arches with various surround detailing; some detailing is saw-toothed. Diagonal arches are found at the corners of the crossing, supported by clustered colonettes and a concrete vault with an oculus at the centre. Decorated compound columns define the chancel. A sexpartite vault rises with ribs extending down to corbelled supports and colonettes, framed by triple lancet windows. A Lady Chapel, designed by George Henderson and built between 1897 and 1898, is located on the south aisle, featuring a Romanesque altar and a metal screen by Singer and Sons. A hanging Rood, crafted by Robert Lorimer in 1922, also graces the interior. Stained glass windows are the work of Clayton and Bell, Burlison and Grylss, and CE Kempe. A triple lancet and rose window in the south transept was added by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi in 2002.

The chapter house, designed by John Olrid Scott between 1890 and 1891, has an octagonal plan with buttressed corners and an octagonal roof. The interior features an octagonal lierne vault with a single granite column at its centre.