Dalhousie Land, St John Street, Edinburgh

Dalhousie Land is a post-war university building designed in the Festival Style by Esme Gordon and Gordon Dey between 1960 and 1963. Later internal alterations were carried out in 1996 by Dodd Jamieson and Partners, and again in 1999 and 2008. The building is a 4-storey and basement structure with an 8-bay rectangular plan, alongside a flat-roofed, 2-storey and 7-bay ancillary section on pilotis along the east side. It is situated alongside a curved range of college buildings for Moray House and connected to an earlier building on its north side via a recessed bay constructed in a traditional stone style.

The main building is constructed of coursed rubble stonework at ground floor level and on the south gable end, with smooth rendering elsewhere. The central gable panel and pilotis section are painted a vert-de-gris green and feature a coloured Moray Family shield crest at the gable apex. The window arrangement reflects the building's varying internal levels: a stepped pattern lights the main staircase at the gable end; closely spaced square windows create a horizontal pattern across a large wall area; and the second floor previously housed a lecture theatre. The window openings have deep set, projecting strip margins.

Replacement window frames were installed in 1996, and the entrance doors and canopy were replaced in 2008. The pitched roof of the main block is slated with overhanging eaves. A later entrance ramp has been added to the front door.

Internal alterations, observed in 2015, have remodelled the building’s layout and detailing. A former swimming pool on the ground floor and an adjacent lecture theatre were converted in 1996 when the building was adapted from lecture and sporting facilities to provide library and office space. The original raked floor of the lecture theatre remains visible in the main library area, alongside a sunken floor section that was formerly the swimming pool.