Description

Robert Lorimer and John F Matthew, 1929-32. Symmetrical 2-storey, 11-bay, rectangular-plan teaching building constructed of droved buff sandstone ashlar, harled to sides and rear. The building has a base course and a corniced eaves course. The east (entrance) elevation has an advanced central bay with steps up to architraved entrance. There is a 2-leaf timber door with bronze ring handles. Narrow windows with cills and lintels flank to either side and 'ENGINEERING' inscribed above. There is a corbelled balcony recess at the 1st floor with a segmental-arched window and a scrolled keystone. There is a pediment-shaped block above, with paired volutes to either side. To the centre of the block is a carved relief panel with a figure and a spoked wheel emblem. The windows at the 1st and 2nd floors of the east, south and north elevations have cast concrete aprons between them, dividing the floor levels. The south elevation has an architraved doorway to ground floor with a later, flat-roofed linking corridor to the south. The west (rear) elevation has 6 harled gable ends with an integrated 3-stage, square-plan tower near the centre. The tower has an architraved round-arched window with quoins and cornice to the ground floor. Above the window is an ashlar band running vertically with 2 narrow single windows. The tower is slightly higher towards its northeast angle. There is a hut to the north of the tower. There are single storey additions to the ends of gables to the south. The gables to north are obscured by a 5-bay, 2-storey addition.

The building has predominantly steel-framed 8- and 12-pane windows and has cast-iron rainwater goods. It has a grey slate, piended roof. The roofs to the rear of the main block are gabled with grey slates and roof-lights.

The interior was seen in 2015. The entrance vestibule has a vaulted ceiling with corbelled corners. There is a timber reception window with a bell. The inner doors have a large round-arched fanlight. The main entrance hall has an advancing central staircase of synthetic stone with wrought iron balustrades and handrail. The balustrade has stylised ironwork infills at intervals and decorative newel post finials. There are square-plan columns flanking the staircase. The entrance hall has timber panels to dado height and the ceiling is coffered. Doors and architraves throughout the building are predominantly timber. The lecture theatre walls have vertical timber pannelling to dado height.

Statement of Interest

The Sanderson Building is part of an associated group of buildings for scientific education at the University of Edinburgh's 'King's Buildings' campus, designed and built between 1926 and 1932 by the important 20th century Scottish architectural partnership of Sir Robert Lorimer and John Fraser Matthew.

The building is prominently located, facing the main road. In reference to the interwar buildings by Matthew/Lorimer at the campus, 'The Buildings of Scotland – Edinburgh' notes the 'monumental frontages advertising the dignity of science' (Gifford et al, p.486).

Stylistically, the buildings for the King's Buildings site by Lorimer and Matthew are designed in a paired-back classical style, fashionable for public buildings at the time. Lorimer and Matthew added Dutch-colonial and Arts and Craft features to the plain classical planning and plan form. John F Matthew (1875 - 1955) was 'almost wholly responsible for the University's King's Buildings commissioned in 1927-29' (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). When Lorimer died in September 1929 he became sole partner.

The interior entrance hall and advanced central stair to the Sanderson Building are carefully finished and detailed. The square-plan drop tower (for mechanical testing) to the rear of the building is an integral part of the plan.

The 115 acre (45 hectare) area, formerly the site of West Mains Farm, on the southside of the city had been purchased in 1919 by the University for the relocation and expansion of its science departments. The sense of uncertainty during the years between the wars were felt at universities across the country, with economic austerity leading to a reduction in funding for scientific research. Increasing demand for laboratory facilities and lack of available funds led, in 1921, to the University launching an appeal for the erection of classrooms and laboratories at what was to become the King's Buildings site. Many of the early buildings on the site, including the Sanderson Building, were built with the assistance of generous benefactors. James Sanderson was a successful woollen textile manufacturer from Galashiels. He bequeathed £50,000 to Engineering, and the building was named in recognition of his donation. The building was opened by Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister, on 28 January 1932.

The University renamed the network of streets at the King's Buildings campus in 2014, using the names of notable scientists.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2016. Previously listed as 'Mayfield Road and West Mains Road, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mechanical Engineering''

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17810150

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide