St John's Priory, 21 St John Street, Edinburgh is a Grade C listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 11 February 2002. Institutional building. 3 related planning applications.

St John's Priory, 21 St John Street, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
over-window-smoke
Grade
C
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
11 February 2002
Type
Institutional building
Address
St John's Priory, 21 St John Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8DG
OS grid reference
NT 263 736
Coordinates
55.95058, -3.18146
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

St John's Priory, located at 21 St John Street in Edinburgh, is predominantly an 18th century building that incorporates earlier materials and has undergone later alterations and additions. It is a three-storey, four-bay gabled structure set back from the street, featuring a small garden at the front. The exterior is constructed of random rubble with polished dressings. Access to the building is via steps with shaped iron railings leading to a timber-panelled entrance door situated at the third bay. There is a large rendered two-storey lean-to extension and additional single-storey extensions at the rear, which were added around the year 2000.

Inside, the building retains some mid-18th century internal doors and fireplaces. A timber stair with turned balusters leads to the attic, which contains timbers dating from the 18th century. The Chapter Hall features a suite of oak furniture carved with thistles, dating from around 1950. The windows are timber sash and case with 12-pane glazing, and the roof is covered with grey slate, featuring stone skews and end stacks with clay cans.

The boundary wall surrounding the front garden is low and made of stone-coped, squared, and snecked rubble. It is accompanied by cast-iron railings and a decorative two-leaf wrought-iron gate that includes a painted shield.

Local climate

St John's Priory, 21 St John Street, 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.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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