Boroughmuir High School, 26 Viewforth, Edinburgh

Boroughmuir High School, 26 Viewforth, Edinburgh

Designed by John Alexander Carfrae and built 1911–14, this is a substantial 3-storey school with basement and attic storeys, arranged in a symmetrical, rectangular double quadrangle plan. The building combines freestyle Renaissance styling with Byzantine details. Its exterior is rendered with harled finish and ashlar dressings, with coursed rubble to the ground floor and basement. A corniced band course runs below the 1st floor windows, advanced and bracketed at the centre of each bay; giant engaged columns rise to the 1st and 2nd storeys, topped with advanced cornices and pinnacles on pedestals.

The south-west elevation facing Viewforth is the principal façade, comprising 13 bays. An advanced central bay is canted with concave sides to two floors at ground level, featuring Doric columns and a swept copper canopy above the porch. Panelled timber outer doors lead to timber entrance doors with glazed panels and a plate glass fanlight. The floor above has single windows to the canted sides, with a carved motif at the centre of a corniced, canted balcony with concave sides. A round-arched stair window appears at 2nd floor level and between the 1st and 2nd floors. A continuous band of 5 round arches supported on colonnettes, with cill course and projecting hood moulds, sits above. A dentilled cornice frames this section. The central bay is further framed by banded ashlar at ground with a single arrow slit to each side. Giant engaged Ionic columns to the 1st and 2nd floors flank giant engaged Ionic pilasters on the outside, topped by entablature and projecting cornice; ashlar bands advance from the harled pilasters at attic level. To the right of the central bay are 4 bays without basement, featuring tripartite mullioned windows to all floors and Diocletian windows at 2nd floor level. The next bay to the right has single windows to ground and 1st floors with a narrow round-arched bipartite window to 2nd floor. The outer right bay is advanced, with tripartite mullioned windows to all floors, giant engaged Ionic columns to the 1st and 2nd floors flanked by giant engaged Ionic pilasters, topped by entablature and projecting cornice with double pedestals and pinnacles. The 4 bays to the left of the central bay mirror those on the right, including basement fenestration.

The south-east elevation is a symmetrical 5-bay composition. Upper storeys are harled. A central tower of campanile form dominates, with an ashlar base course. A recessed 2-leaf timber entrance door is flanked by bracketed engaged shafts with corniced capitals supporting carved seated figures of learning. Round-arched voussoired bipartite windows with dentilled hoodmoulds appear at the 1st and 2nd floors above, each with a double-columned central support with carved cushion capitals. A band of 3 architraved windows sits above, with an arrow slit with round-arched hoodmould aligned above. Three single windows appear in the return to the left. Projecting bracketed, corniced bands of masonry sit below round-arched voussoired apertures to the top stage, beneath a projecting dentilled cornice. The flanking bays are fenestrated as the main elevation, with giant engaged Ionic pilasters to upper storeys, doubled at angles.

The north-west elevation features a tower to the central bay of the same form as the south-east tower, except with a square-headed doorway with semicircular fanlight at lower level, opening onto the roof of the annex. A doorway in the return at basement level has a swan-neck pediment. The flanking bays match those of the south-east elevation, with basement fenestrated as the floors above.

An adjoining single-storey annex of sandstone construction has 7 bays and sits adjacent to the basement. Its raised central bay features ball finials and a voussoired round-arched entrance to the rear at centre. To each side of this, single windows flank a bipartite window with stone mullions. Banded pilasters and a cornice are employed, with corniced piers aligned with the pilasters and joined by metal railings.

The north-east rear elevation mirrors the front elevation with the following differences: the continuous band course below 1st floor windows is unadvanced; banded pilasters rather than engaged Ionic columns appear to upper storeys; banded pilasters flank a tripartite window with cill course in the upper section of the central bay; an oculus sits within the tympanum of a broken pediment; the basement is fenestrated as the floors above; a later addition to the basement at the right.

Timber sash and case glazing throughout. Grey slate piended roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

The interior features white brick inner quadrangles. To the north-west, 3 storeys surround a glass piend-roofed basement. To the south-east, alterations to the quadrangle include the incorporation of a new metal-beamed sports hall.

Boundary walls, gatepiers, gates and railings are of banded polished ashlar for the gatepiers, with decorative cast-iron gates and spiked iron railings to coped, coursed rubble walls.