National Gallery Of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh is a Grade A listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 14 December 1970. Gallery. 7 related planning applications.

National Gallery Of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
heavy-baluster-snow
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
14 December 1970
Type
Gallery
Address
National Gallery Of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
OS grid reference
NT 254 737
Coordinates
55.9509, -3.19566
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The National Gallery of Scotland, located on The Mound in Edinburgh, was designed by William Playfair and constructed between 1850 and 1859, with later alterations and additions by WT Oldrieve from 1911 to 1912. This building is a cruciform Ionic temple and gallery set on a stylobate. The north and south sides feature paired Ionic columns in antis, with an entrance in the pronaos that is flanked by tetrastyle Ionic porticoes. The east and west elevations are adorned with pilasters, and there is a higher central transverse block that includes hexastyle Ionic porticoes at the center of both the east and west elevations. The building has plain pediments with antifixae and acroteria, a solid parapet on the higher central section, and a balustered parapet on the lower section.

Inside, the gallery features two ranges of top-lit lozenge-shaped and octagonal galleries, separated by Corinthian-columned screens. Curved stairs lead to the upper-level galleries from the north and south.

Local climate

National Gallery Of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 7 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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