Viewforth Church, Gilmore Place, Edinburgh

Viewforth Church stands on Gilmore Place in Edinburgh. Designed by Pilkington & Bell and built in 1871–2, with the tower added in 1879, it is a substantial square-plan gothic church constructed in cream sandstone. The masonry is squared and snecked stugged rubble with stugged ashlar dressings, featuring a steeply chamfered cill course and colinnettes with stiff-leaf capitals throughout. Doors are distinguished by their lattice panelling.

The north-east tower, a 3-stage structure (the belfry was removed in 1976), anchors the composition. It has angle buttresses and a battered base, with a moulded eaves course supporting a gabled entrance to the south-east. The entrance itself comprises a trefoil doorway set within a moulded pointed arch, flanked by colonnettes and topped with a hoodmould bearing carved masque stops. Three attenuated slit lancets pierce the faces above. The tower top features thin proud ashlar strips forming six narrow arches with oculi (now boarded up) on each face, whilst a buttress-like projection with two lancets projects from the centre of the north-east face.

The south-east elevation facing Gilmore Place presents two bays (excluding the tower). A gabled bay to the right terminates in an ornate stone finial. At ground floor level, a row of five small basket-arched windows divided by squat columns with moulded capitals runs across this section. Above rises a large 4-light pointed-arch window with thin colonnettes and geometrical tracery. To the left, a slightly advanced gabled bay contains paired doorways of stilted pointed arches with colonettes, above which sit two lancets with cusped heads. A rose window with tracery crowns the gable, and clasping buttresses with battered caps frame both sides. The adjoining offices facade to the left is two storeys tall and three bays wide, featuring a pointed-arch central door with colonnettes supporting a gabled and finialled ashlar canopy. The outer bays have tripartite windows with chamfered reveals, whilst two single windows break the eaves line above, flanked by quatrefoil oculi. A cast-iron brattishing parapet caps the offices, and a single-storey church hall stands behind them.

The north-east elevation along Viewforth comprises three gabled bays (excluding the tower). To the left, a basement contains four windows and a central door. At ground floor, a continuous row of ten small basket-arched windows divided by squat columns with moulded capitals extends across the width. Two lancets with quatrefoil heads sit above under the outer bays' gables. The central bay features a large 4-light pointed-arch window with geometrical tracery and a stepped hoodmould. Where the gable copings meet, green man carvings appear. The south-west elevation spans four bays, with single-storey church hall and offices at ground level. The outer right bay contains two trefolied lancets. Three gabled bays to the left display a continuous row of small rectangular windows with chamfered reveals above the church hall, with two lancets and quatrefoils above under the outer gables. The central bay repeats the large 4-light pointed-arch window with geometrical tracery found elsewhere. The north-west elevation features a rose window with tracery in its gablehead.

Windows vary by function: the principal windows are leaded with diamond-shaped panes and stained glass borders, whilst basement and office windows are timber sash and case with plate glass. The roof is slate with lead flashings and coped skews.

The interior is plastered and follows a T-plan with groin-vaulting above. A raked timber U-plan gallery with carved, panelled balustrade rises within the space. Slender cast-iron columns topped with elaborate Corinthian capitals and four-way consoles support transverse beams ornamented with foliate cornicing over the side galleries. Tie-rods connect the capitals. Modern screens cut diagonally across the south-west corners and run north-east across the short leg of the T-plan. Ornamental cast-iron round ventilation grilles pierce the ceiling. Tiled vestibules and open stair towers to the gallery and tower feature ornamental cast-iron railings in the re-entrant angles of the T-plan. Curved timber pews with cast-iron umbrella stands furnish the nave.

The pulpit and organ case, dating to 1899, are elaborate Gothic and Tudorbethan works carved in timber by T. P. Marwick, featuring blind tracery and pinnacles. Two carved stone fonts stand within—one alabaster, one stone with angel heads. The side walls retain a series of Boyle's air inlet Brackets No. 6 (as advertised in Academy Architecture 1897), now painted over.

The boundary wall is low rubble with saddleback coping. The gatepiers are sturdy with ornate heads and carved foliage in trefoils. Ornamental cast-iron railings and three sets of gates complete the enclosure.