Dean Free Church Hostel, Belford Road, Edinburgh

The Dean Free Church Hostel, built in 1888 by Sydney Mitchell and Wilson, occupies a prominent corner site in Edinburgh. Originally a late Gothic church with a basilica plan, it is situated on sloping ground, characterized by large vaulted basements. The building is dominated by a four-stage tower to the northwest, featuring an octagonal belfry and flying buttresses. The main body comprises a nave, aisles, a single transept to the north, and a three-sided apse to the east. Constructed of squared and snecked red sandstone with some ashlar quoins, the church exhibits distinctive architectural features.

The west elevation, the main entrance front, has a prominent finialed gable, roughly three bays wide, with a two-bay tower to the left (north). A large angled entrance platt overhangs the basement. The ground floor is defined by a moulded base course that transitions into a string course to the north, with a further moulded string course above. A moulded cill course is present at the first floor on the left (north) side. Buttressed corner angles are set back. The main entrance has a pair of two-leaf doors within a moulded pointed arch, featuring colonettes and a burning bush tympanum above. This is flanked by paired lancet windows with quatrefoils above. Recessed lancet windows fill the first floor, each with a shallow moulding to the pointed arch, and a small moulded roundel sits above them.

The tower is tall and rectangular, rising in four stages. The lower two stages are plain, with a round arched doorway on the north elevation, featuring a triangular hoodmold, trefoil tympanum, and blind arcading. Paired, moulded string courses run around the tower. Paired lancet windows appear above, with a further set of smaller lancet windows on the second stage. The third stage is octagonal, incorporating stepped and flying buttresses, and pointed arched lancet windows with louvers. A moulded band course leads to a balustraded fourth stage, also octagonal, with moulded finials to the balustrade piers. Glazed lancet windows provide light, and a balustraded parapet tops a lucarned spire covered in red tiles.

The north (Belford Road) elevation is roughly four bays high, with three storeys. An advanced gable end marks the left (east) side of the transept, with a lower buttressed range in the re-entrant angle between the transept and the tower; the nave clerestory is further recessed. A small two-storey block is located to the east of the transept, in the angle between the transept and the apse. A deep banded base course is present along this elevation, with paired moulded band courses at the first floor, stepped over the buttress to the left (east). Pointed arched surrounds define the ground floor windows, incorporating sandstone transoms and mullions. Rectangular surrounds exist on the transept gable, featuring ashlar cills, lintels and rybats. Lancet windows are placed at the first floor to the right (west), with a pointed arched hoodmold above. Large, pointed arched windows fill the transept gable and apse, each featuring sandstone transomed and mullioned paired lancets with a quatrefoil above. Arcaded lancet windows provide light to the clerestory.

The interior is believed to be well-detailed, with alternating round and octagonal columns supporting a hammerbeam roof. The building predominantly features small-pane glazing, with some stained glass in the nave and transept, designed by the Bromsgrove Guild in the 1920s. The roof is pitched and covered in Westmorland slates. Cast-iron railings, set upon ashlar copes, edge the basement recess along the street, and cast iron rainwater goods are present throughout.