Trinity Academy, Craighall Avenue, Edinburgh

Trinity Academy is a secondary school in the Victoria Park and Trinity area of North Edinburgh. The building comprises the four-storey former Craighall Road High School (1891–93) by George Craig, and flat-roofed additions (1958–64) adjoining to the east by Stanley Patrick Ross-Smith. The additions consist of a four-storey glazed stair link, a six-storey classroom block and adjoining two-storey 'podium style' block, an assembly and dining hall block, and a twin gymnasium hall with single-storey corridor link. Alterations and redecoration were carried out by Baxter Clark & Paul Architects in 1991.

Former Craighall Road School (1891–93)

The former Craighall Road School is a broadly symmetrical, three-storey and basement, fifteen-bay building of squared and snecked brown sandstone in the Renaissance style with some Venetian detailing, finished with contrasting polished red sandstone dressings. Clasping pilasters flank the projecting outer blocks. The entrance has a round arched, hood-moulded doorway (converted to a window around 1960) and a low stone balustrade above a flat-roofed porch. A central pediment breaks the eaves line and supports a sandstone statue of Youth holding the torch of learning. Circular panels, inscribed 1892, flank the central window. There are Venetian windows to the second floor, round-arched windows to the porch, and decorative ventilation grills with foliate detailing set between the floors.

The rear elevation is four-storey and twenty-bay, advanced at the centre. It has symmetrical single windows (round-arched to fourth floor in central bay) and an oculus centred in the pedimented gable. A door to the rear is inscribed 'Girls & Infants Entrance'. There are pedimented windows flanking the central bays at the fourth floor. The ground floor doorways contain polished sandstone panels.

The building has a piended roof with a grey slate covering in diminishing courses. There are octagonal timber louvred lanterns over the two main internal staircases to the east and west.

The late 19th century interior (seen 2021) is broadly intact in plan with fixtures and fittings retained throughout. There has been some remodelling and infilling of central spaces. A former office with a three-light canted bay window projects into the central corridor to the ground floor. It has decorative moulded timber consoles, projecting cornicing and a round-arched fanlight. The school has twin staircases in a mirrored planform arrangement, both having cast-iron banister uprights, timber handrails and stop-chamfered timber newels with ogee finials. There are some barrel-arched doorpieces with mosaic detail, and architraved doorways with fanlights. A hall on the third floor has a timber-ribbed, vaulted ceiling. White ceramic tiles with decorative foliate borders line the corridors. There is a further simple stone staircase towards the rear.

Glazed Stair Link (1958–61)

Adjoining the 1891 school building to the east is a sloping-roofed, glazed link. It has a ground floor level with three levels of stairs above accessing the six-storey classroom block extension (1958–61). It has full-height, metal-frame glazed walls on both sides (north and south) in a repeating, stepped glazing pattern. The roof is angled, mirroring the slant of the upper staircase. Internally, the stairs retain their late 1950s design and materials including a metal handrail and a distinctive wedge-shaped cut-out platform at the third-floor level.

Classroom Block and Integrated Podium Block (1958–61)

The six-storey classroom tower is rectangular in plan with a flat roof. There is a projecting staircase to the main entrance and a recessed walkway at the first-floor level. Above the first floor are four symmetrical classroom levels, supported on a row of round columns (piloti). The four classroom floors are defined by an exposed, reinforced concrete structural frame of five bays, evident as vertical pilasters, interspersed with horizontal panel insets and metal-frame windows with a distinctive repeating glazing pattern at each classroom floor. The ground floor is recessed slightly, with the upper floors overhanging a raised, inset walkway at the first-floor level.

Internally, the six-storey block has a centralised plan with corner classrooms at each floor. There is a stair on the east side of the block lit by full height glazed panels. The interior decoration is minimal, retaining fittings of mid-20th century date, and is characteristic of school interior design of the period.

A two-storey, flat-roofed podium-style block is integrated at the first-floor level, extending to the east to create a horizontal platform base for the classroom tower block. The podium block links into the two-storey assembly hall and dining hall (1958–61) to the west. Internally, the horizontal podium block has an atrium hall with a descending central staircase and a glazed cupola light with timber grid inset.

Assembly Hall and Dining Hall (1958–61)

The assembly hall is a single space of two-storey height, with a concrete structural frame of narrow ribs, tapering towards the floor and the mid-ceiling. The ribs are interspersed with shallow-vaulted ceiling panels, the shape of which is visible externally on the roof of the hall. There is a timber-panelled stage at the west end of the hall.

The dining hall, adjoining directly to the south of the assembly hall, is of brick construction or concrete with a brick skin. The canteen is on the upper level with picture windows to the principal south elevation. There is a hall area below the canteen, with sets of sliding doors into the larger assembly hall area to provide a larger communal space when required. The interior is largely functional with few surviving details of mid-20th century character.

Twin Gymnasium Hall (1961–64)

A single-storey, corridor link runs between the assembly hall block and the Twin Gymnasium Hall (1961–64) to the east. The twin gymnasium is a two-storey, roughly square-plan block with a mirrored plan form and exposed concrete frame. It has horizontal sections of timber cladding and geometric glazing patterns to the west and east elevations of each segregated gymnasium area at first-floor level. The interior retains its mid-20th century character including the central stair with metal handrails, segregated by a central wall of textured glazed panels. The well-lit gyms are reached by a staircase within the central atrium of the building. Changing rooms are on the ground floor level.

A free-standing aggregate-panelled wall with a geometric design (circa 1960) is situated in front of the six-storey classroom block. Outside the dining hall is a memorial to the pupils and staff who lost their lives while on active service during the First World War.

Historical Development

Craighall Road School was built as a high school in 1891–93 at a cost of £18,850. The land was acquired by charter from the Laird of Bonnington, James Clerk-Rattray and the Craighall School Board was bound by contract to complete the building within two years. The school was officially opened in 1894. The footprint of the building is shown on the 1902 Ordnance Survey Map.

The school was renamed Trinity Academy Higher Grade School in 1909. The nearby Leith Academy of 1898, also by George Craig, became a higher-grade school in the same year. Plans for an additional secondary block were drawn up in 1919, and again in 1939. However, little change was made until the late 1950s when the City of Edinburgh Council commissioned new buildings for both the secondary and primary departments.

The new buildings by Stanley Patrick Ross-Smith were commissioned in 1957 and constructed over a six-year period between 1958 and 1964. The glazed link, classroom block and podium block including assembly and dining halls are all shown on the 1961 revision of the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map, whilst the detached gymnasium addition with linking corridor is shown on the 1964 revision.

The school expanded in line with its amalgamation with other local schools and with changing educational trends. In 1974 Trinity Academy merged with David Kilpatrick School to become a fully comprehensive secondary modern serving North and West Leith, Newhaven and Trinity. The swimming pool is understood to have been constructed around this time. Further blocks were built after 1970. These later additions, including the Design and Technology Workshop (1987–93), the Swimming Pool and Music Room block (1970s), and the Science and Home Economics block (1987–93), are excluded from the listing.