Corn Exchange, 29, 31, 33, 35 Constitution Street, Leith, Edinburgh

This is a substantial 1861 office and exchange building designed by Peddie & Kinnear, with frieze carving by John Rhind. The building occupies a corner site on Constitution Street in Leith, Edinburgh, and includes a large, rectangular-plan hall to the north. Constructed of cream sandstone with squared and snecked stugged rubble to the rear and sides, the building showcases Renaissance detailing.

The architectural design incorporates a two-storey corner office block with a prominent engaged octagonal entrance tower. The exterior features a base course, a carved frieze of vine leaves above the ground floor, a further frieze of scrolled vine leaves to the eaves, and windows set in recessed panels. Ground floor openings are characterised by moulded stilted segmental arches with impost courses and ornamental iron grilles in the aprons. First-floor windows have moulded round-arched heads and impost courses.

The octagonal entrance tower is three-stage and detailed similarly to the main building. The top stage has round-arched bipartite windows with foliate capitals in recessed rectangular panels, a paterae frieze, and a bracketted eaves cornice. It is topped by a classical octagonal domed metal roof with a rear wallhead stack and an octagonal domed bellcote with round-arched openings and an ornate weathervane.

The northwest elevation, facing Constitution Street, presents a four-bay office block to the right with arcaded openings, and a five-bay hall to the left. The hall’s frieze, carved by John Rhind, depicts putti engaged in grain-related activities. The centre bay of the hall features a tall doorway with an elongated fanlight. The south elevation, facing Baltic Street, is seven bays wide (excluding the corner tower), also with arcaded openings, and includes secondary doorways with two-pane fanlights. A low screen wall to the far right features two segmental arches, one of which is blocked. The west elevation is largely blank with blocked windows and a broad rendered wallhead stack serving the office block.

The building has four-pane timber sash and case windows with arched heads. The office block has a slate roof with metal flashings, while the hall has a felt roof. Chimneys include two wallhead stacks, an apex stack to the gable end of the hall, and a large transverse stack.

Inside, the vestibule and stair hall feature a red and white marble floor and dado. The newel posts incorporate timber lighthouses as lamps. Stained glass (circa 1900) is present in two windows flanking the main doorway. Original tiling is found in the ground floor toilets, and a large skylight illuminates the round offices on the first floor. The rear exchange hall is characterized by blind round arches to the side bays and semi-circular gable elevations. Its roof is supported by arched timber braces with pierced and carved spandrels painted gold, red, and blue.