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 in 1960-63 with later internal alterations in 1996 by Dodd Jamieson and Partners and further internal alterations in 1999 and 2008. It is a 4-storey and basement, 8-bay rectangular-plan education building with a flat-roofed, 2-storey and 7-bay ancillary section along the east elevation set on pilotis. It is located to one side of a quadrant of multi-phase college campus buildings for Moray House and is joined to an earlier building to its north end with a single recessed bay in traditional stone style and massing which houses a staircase.

The building is constructed of coursed rubble stonework at the ground floor and south gable end; there is smooth rendering elsewhere. The central gable panel and pilotis section is coloured vert-de-gris green. There is a coloured Moray Family shield crest to the gable apex. The external window pattern reflects the varying internal levels to the building: the stepped pattern to the windows at the gable end light the main staircase; the square single windows are closely set to create a horizontal pattern within the large expanse of wall; the second floor housed the former lecture theatre. The small window openings are designed with deep set projecting strip margins.

The building has replacement window frames dating to 1996 and later entrance doors and canopy dating to 2008. The pitched roof of the main block is slated with overhanging eaves. There is a later entrance ramp to the front door.

The interior of the building was seen in 2015 and it has undergone alterations to the plan form and detailing. A former swimming pool to the ground floor and lecture theatre above were remodelled in 1996 when the building was converted from lecture and sporting facilities to provide library and office accommodation. The raked floor of the former lecture theatre is still evident in the main library space; there is also a central sunken floor section which was the former swimming pool.