Description

J M Dick Peddie & George Washington Browne, 1897-1901, Palladian office block; former No 13 by W Hamilton Beattie (George Beattie & Sons), 1898, French Renaissance office; substantial additions and alterations by Michael Laird & Partners; phase 1, 1964; phase 2, with Robert Matthew, 1968; phase 3, 1975-8; sculpture and friezes by Sir John Steell and Gerald Ogilvy Laing. Massive office complex formerly of

5 distinct blocks, now seamlessly unified internally.

ORIGINAL CORNER BUILDING FOR STANDARD LIFE ASSURANCE: 3-storey 9-bay neo-Palladian office. Polished cream sandstone ashlar. At ground, channelled rustication above smooth base course containing basement lights with grilles, entablature with mutuled cornice. Upper floor windows with moulded architraves; corniced at 1st floor, lugged at 2nd. Frieze with cherubs and garlands, dentilled and modillioned cornice; balustraded parapet. PRINCIPAL (GEORGE STREET) ELEVATION: symmetrical, with engaged Corinthian tetrastyle portico at centre, accommodated by projecting ground floor, with corniced doorway; fluted columns on panelled bases, frieze dated MDCCCXXV, pediment with carved tympanum representing the Wise and Foolish Virgins, by John Steell. 4-bay return to St Andrew's Square.

Timber sash and case plate glass windows. Modern piended roof; grey slates.

PHASE 1 BLOCK (MYTON BUILDING): to rear, in SE Thistle Street Lane, but visible from George Street. 5-storey block with curtain walls of alternating clear and green glass to N and S; plant clearly expressed on top.

PHASE 2 BLOCK: 5-storey 5-bay continuation of St Andrews Square elevation; vertical ashlar piers linked by horizontal windows, capped by set back steel fascia.

PHASE 3 BLOCK: continues George Street elevation with link to former

No 13; 5-storey 5-bay reworking of phase 2 theme, with bronze frieze incorporating Wise and Foolish Virgins fable, reinterpreted by Gerald Ogilvy Laing.

FORMER NO 13: on corner site fronting St Andrew's and St George's Church (see separate listing); 4-storey and attic early Renaissance. Polished cream sandstone ashlar. Round-headed windows at ground, entablature to ground and 1st floors. 1st floor windows pilastered with cill course. 2nd floor windows with alternating canted bays and segmental and triangular pediments, flat bays with balustraded aprons to windows; 2nd and 3rd floors with giant order panelled corner pilasters; entablature with modillioned cornice. 3-bay GEORGE STREET ELEVATION with engaged granite Doric columns at ground and triglyph frieze; pediment above former 2-leaf panelled door to right. Upper floors with canted centre bay. 3-bay attic storey, diminutive version of ground floor supported by lateral consoles, and surmounted by massive pediment with oculus and 3 statues. 5-bay W ELEVATION with inner bays of upper floors canted. Gabled attic; 3-bay central section pilastered with entablature and parapet, balustraded at centre; round-headed aedicule windows with alternate segmental and triangular pediments.

Timber sash and case plate glass windows. Ashlar coped skews; grey slates.

INTERIOR: rebuilt retaining principal entrance, stair and boardrooms of original block. Panelled Entrance Hall containing straight flight of marble steps to principal level; mirrored aedicule on axis at upper level; groin-vaulted ceiling. Arcaded contrasting marble Hall with Ionic pilasters and 2-bay screen to former Telling Room; black and white marble floor; Baroque broken pediment to Entrance Hall. Principal stairhall and landings with fine timber panelling, pedimented doors; cantilevered stair rises to 2nd floor, with quarter landings, painted stone treads and square timber balusters; lit by elaborate glazed dome. At 1st floor, panelled Boardroom on corner with compartmented ceiling; tiered chimneypiece with acanthus scrolls supporting Ionic capitals and frieze, and upper tier with Ionic columns supporting stepped broken segmental pediment; marble slips and hearth; original furniture and Steell bust, 1865; 3 wrought-iron chandeliers; brass radiator grilles in windows. Managing Director's room similarly finished.

Windows of former No 13 at ground with fluted pilasters.

Statement of Interest

The pediment was reused from David Bryce?s building of 1839. Hamilton Beattie?s building was designed for the Royal Insurance Company. Laird?s Phase 1 building interconnects with 13A George Street, known as the Crippled Aid Building (see separate listing). The retention of principal stair and rooms within a major rebuild, was a solution reused by Laird at 28 St Andrews Square, for Scottish Equitable, in an exactly contemporary building also by Dick Peddie & Browne (see separate listing).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17569428

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)