Commercial Union Insurance, 26 George Street, Edinburgh

The Commercial Union Insurance building, located at 26 George Street in Edinburgh, was designed by J M Dick Peddie and constructed between 1908 and 1909. This three-storey building, with an attic and basement, features a Renaissance style and is situated on a corner site. The exterior is finished in polished Portland stone, with a granite base course. The ground floor showcases channelled rustication and voussoirs, while the first and second floors are adorned with giant order Ionic columns and balustrades between their bases. The building is topped with a modillioned cornice and a balustraded parapet. The first-floor windows are framed with lugged architraves and cornices, and the second-floor windows have bracketed and draped cills, along with husks at their heads. A prominent feature is the three-bay recessed drum corner, which is topped with a consoled copper dome that supports a bronze statue of Prudence by Penny Portsmouth.

On the Hanover Street elevation, there are five bays with doors located in the outer bays; the left door is architraved and corniced, featuring a carved crest above. The George Street elevation has three bays, with an architraved doorcase at the centre that includes a consoled open pediment containing a carved crest, leading to two-leaf panelled doors. The building also features plate glass casement windows, corniced ashlar stacks, and two large vertical flagpoles on the roof, with grey slates covering the structure.

Inside, the hall is characterized by Roman Doric columns made of Pavanazzo marble, complete with elided entablatures. The stairway features heavy balusters, leading to a panelled corridor that accesses the first-floor boardroom. This boardroom boasts an Adam revival ceiling, a fine late 18th-century marble chimneypiece, which may have originated from the original house on the site, and panels of Utrecht velvet.