Police Station, 31-33 Queen Charlotte Street, Leith, Edinburgh

Police Station, 31-33 Queen Charlotte Street, Leith, Edinburgh

This is a large, complex Grade A building occupying a prominent corner site in Leith. It comprises a principal corner block designed by architects R & R Dickson in 1827-8, with neighbouring early 19th-century tenements and subsequent additions. Nos 31 and 33 were remodelled and incorporated into the town hall by James Simpson in 1868. A further addition dates to circa 1870 on the north side, and another extension by James Simpson was added to the east in 1903. The complex now functions as a police station.

The building is constructed of cream sandstone. The front elevations facing Queen Charlotte Street and Constitution Street feature polished ashlar, while the rear is built of squared and snecked rubble. It is predominantly three storeys in height.

The former town hall occupies the corner site at 75-81 Constitution Street and 29 Queen Charlotte Street. The ground floor is characterised by channelled masonry with segmental-arched openings. The building features angle pilasters, a broad frieze with dentilled eaves cornice and blocking course. Prominent tablets with corniced and scroll-flanked inscriptions are carried on the blocking course.

The Queen Charlotte Street elevation comprises five bays. The three centre bays are slightly advanced and channelled. A Doric portico marks the ground floor, with a doorway containing a two-leaf panelled door flanked by small windows. At first-floor level, a Venetian window occupies the centre, its round arch recessed with moulded pilasters and consoled imposts, with small windows over the outer lights. The second floor has three small windows. Single windows light the outer bays. An inscription reading "Town Hall R & R Dickson, architects" is carried on a tablet.

The Constitution Street elevation contains five bays in its main block, with a two-storey, three-bay later addition (circa 1870) to the left. The main block features a secondary doorway at centre ground floor. Above this, the three centre bays are recessed and divided by engaged Ionic columns. First-floor windows are architraved, alternating between corniced and pedimented designs. The second floor has smaller windows. An inscription reading "Elected by Magistrates and Masters, 1828" appears on a tablet. The three-bay addition to the left features a pend flanked by doorways with triangular heads and antefixae. At first-floor level, the addition is recessed with upwards-tapering windows bearing shouldered architraves, divided by Ionic columns. An eaves cornice and blocking course carry a scroll-flanked tablet. An angle pilaster at the outer left is channelled with panelled dies and an urn finial.

The rear (north) elevation shows the later addition as a blank wall, while the main block above features tripartite windows flanking a blocked single window and a blank panelled tablet with angle dies.

The former tenement at 31-37 Queen Charlotte Street presents an eleven-bay front elevation, three storeys with attic and basement. No 31 has a rock-faced basement. The ground floor is of polished ashlar with rustication, while the storeys above are of stugged ashlar with polished dressings. A band course runs above the ground floor, and a cill band course marks the first floor. An eaves cornice and blocking course crown the elevation. First-floor windows are architraved and corniced. Single windows occupy each bay on each floor. Five rectangular tripartite dormers light the attic. A round-arched doorway to the outer left features engaged fluted Corinthian columns and a dentilled cornice, with ornamental iron gates. The round-arched door itself contains etched glass and is set within ornate plasterwork to the vestibule. A plain doorway to the right of centre has a two-leaf panelled door and rectangular plate glass fanlight.

The rear (north) elevation of this tenement is raised to four storeys and has been much altered, with irregular openings and stepped stair windows. A tripartite stair window is positioned at the centre. A glazed walkway runs at ground-floor level.

The former tenement at 39-41 Queen Charlotte Street was designed by James Simpson in 1903. Its south-facing front elevation is two storeys in height, comprising four bays. The ground floor is rusticated, and first-floor windows are architraved beneath an eaves cornice with tall parapet. The bay to the left features an advanced secondary doorway at ground floor, flanked by narrow windows, with a tripartite window above at first-floor level. To the right, a secondary doorway is flanked by a single window and a pend (now blocked); single windows occupy the first floor. The rear (north) elevation is single storey, containing a brick-built gym and boxing hall of rectangular plan.

Throughout the complex, windows are timber sash and case with mostly plate glass glazing and some 12-pane windows. The roofs are of slate with metal flashings. Mutual and gable stacks serve Nos 31-37. The tenement bays are topped with piended slate-hung dormers.

The interior is exceptionally ornate and varied. A two-storey cell block with central staircase is lit by skylights and features a first-floor balcony on iron brackets with distinctive thick spiky railings. Decorative schemes throughout are eclectic, encompassing Grecian, Renaissance and Jacobean styles. The 1870s addition contains a former sheriff court room distinguished by a shallow-relief plasterwork ceiling with anthemion and palmette frieze and characteristic classical timber doorpieces. These doorpieces are echoed throughout the later alterations.

The Queen Charlotte Street building features a lavishly decorated stair hall with ornate plasterwork to walls and ceilings and a carved timber staircase. An armorial stained glass window fills the round-arched Venetian opening. The doorway to the council chamber is surmounted by a Corinthian doorpiece bearing the emblem of Leith. The former council chamber, decorated by Thomas Bonnar Jr in 1891-2 following designs by James Simpson, is highly ornamented with a painted compartmental ceiling featuring elaborate plasterwork, foliage pendants incorporating light fittings, and timber panelling throughout. An ornamental iron heating system with decorative grilles and ducts is exposed. Doorcases matching those elsewhere feature brass fixtures. Offices throughout display extensive woodwork, with doors and windows featuring leaded lights with coloured borders. A conference room is appointed with timber panelling and an elaborately carved timber fireplace. A gentleman's toilet at No 35 features a yellow and blue tiled dado, with original fittings of black and white marble incorporating a wash-hand basin, urinals and a cistern with glass front, all fitted with brass fittings. The gym hall is spanned by an arched brace roof carried on stone corbels with tension rods and continuous skylights.

The front boundary consists of a low wall with ornamental iron gates and railings to Nos 31-41.