Harrison Memorial Arch, Observatory Road, Edinburgh is a Grade B listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 19 March 1993. Triumphal arch.
Harrison Memorial Arch, Observatory Road, Edinburgh
- WRENN ID
- standing-timber-autumn
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- City of Edinburgh
- Constituency
- Edinburgh South MP: Ian Murray (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 19 March 1993
- Type
- Triumphal arch
- OS grid reference
- NT 262 708
- Coordinates
- 55.92481, -3.18175
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Harrison Memorial Arch, designed by A G Sydney Mitchell in 1888, is a red polished ashlar triumphal arch located on Observatory Road in Edinburgh, commemorating George Harrison. The arch features a central keystoned and voussoired arch that spans the road, with smaller pedestrian arches on both the left and right sides. It has a base course and a dividing cornice above the pedestrian arches, along with channelled stonework above and blinded balustrades flanking the pediments.
On the northeast elevation, there are corniced pedestals supporting four engaged Ionic columns that flank the arches. Commemorative inscriptions are set above the pedestrian arches, and a full entablature includes a Latin inscription in the frieze. The central archway is topped with a broken pediment that features an inset bronze roundel of Harrison.
The southwest elevation has a central pedimented archway that is slightly advanced, with a simplified entablature.
Local climate
Harrison Memorial Arch, Observatory Road, Edinburgh sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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