Castlehill School, 354 Castlehill, Edinburgh

Castlehill School, built in 1887 and designed by Robert Wilson, is a former school building (now the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre) situated on Castlehill and Johnston Terrace in Edinburgh. The building exhibits Scottish Baronial detailing. It is constructed from squared and snecked lightly stugged sandstone with red sandstone dressings, featuring long and short quoins and crowstepped gables. Windows are set within roll-moulded surrounds.

The north elevation, facing Castlehill, is six bays wide. It incorporates transomed windows with pedimented roll-moulded architraves on the ground floor. A moulded string course steps up over a blank heraldic shield positioned centrally between the ground and first floors. The first floor also has transomed windows in roll-moulded surrounds. Chequer-set corbelling appears at the eaves, topped by a balustraded parapet. A crowstepped nepis gable has an apex stack, and a circular carved panel adorns the gable.

The south elevation, facing Johnston Terrace, is more elaborate with round-arched openings on the ground floor, leading to flat-headed doors and windows with Diocletian windows above. Double string courses are present between the floors. The central block is a tall, projecting three-bay structure with angle buttresses and bartizans with conical slated roofs. A string course steps up over three blank shields at the centre of the first floor. The second floor has transomed windows, and beneath one sits a carved panel inscribed "CASTLE HILL SCHOOL". A bracketed and balustraded balcony supports a mullioned and transomed window with a segmental pediment within the gable, flanked by carved panels bearing initials and the date 1887. Recessed three-bay wings flank the central block and feature transomed windows on the first and second floors. A string course steps up over blank shields between the outer left and right bays of the second floor. Blind oculi are situated in the gables above the two outer bays to the right and left.

The janitor's house, located at 17 Johnston Terrace, is three storeys high with two bays. It has a timber-panelled door in a roll-moulded surround on the ground floor, with two round-arched windows to the right and paired small windows to the left. A mullioned and transomed oriel window sits to the right on the first floor. A mullioned bipartite window is to the right on the second floor, with a crowstepped dormerhead breaking the eaves. A blind oculus is incorporated into the gable, and single windows are positioned to the left on the first and second floors. The north elevation displays a crowstepped gable to a projecting porch with a blind oculus above a timber-panelled door. A small window is to the left, and small paired windows are located above.

Small ancillary buildings extend to the east and west, mirroring the details of the main building. The windows are timber sash and case with small panes. The roof is covered with greenish-grey slates and terracotta ridge tiles, with a conical slated ventilator on the ridge. Tall end stacks are capped with circular cans.

A tall squared and snecked retaining wall is retained with a roll-moulded cornice and gabletted crenellation leading to an ashlar parapet. Round-arched ashlar gateways incorporate cast-iron gates, labelled “Boys'” and “Girls'”.