Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

GRANGE ROAD AND CHALMERS CRESCENT, ST CATHERINE'S ARGYLE CHURCH INCLUDING GATEPIERSLB30386

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
C
Date Added
15/01/1992
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 25737 72057
Coordinates
325737, 672057

Description

Patrick Wilson, 1866. Symmetrical Continental Gothic church. T-plan with projecting stair blocks, and single storey offices and church hall; octagonal belfry to SW re-entrant angle; square section tower base to SE (never completed). Squared and snecked Craigmillar sandstone with polished ashlar dressings. Base course; decorative carved eaves course to S gable; contrasting pink granite colonettes and nook-shafts; foliate capitals and label-stops; offset gablet-capped angle butresses with panelled upper sections; pointed-arch windows.

NAVE: gabled entrance elevation to S; 3 gabled ashlar panels at ground with cusping detail; broad pointed-arch door to centre; paired colonettes flanking with double fleuron studded and moulded surround above; quatrefoil in gablehead; 2-leaf panelled doors; blinded fanlight; windows in flanking bays with single colonettes and decorative surround. Broad hoodmoulded window with geometric tracery and colonettes above; vesica at gablehead.

W RETURN ELEVATION TO NAVE: octagonal tower in re-entrant angle (see below); 2 narrow bays divided by buttress; slender geometric windows at ground and quatrefoil oculi above.

OCTAGONAL BELFRY: 3-stage with dividing string courses; rectangular base, chamfered to octagonal at 2nd stage. Simple hoodmoulded windows to alternate faces at 2nd stage. Pointed-arch openings with nook-shafts to each face of bell chamber; polygonal roof.

TRUNCATED TOWER TO S: 2-stage; upper stage with hoodmoulded deeply embrasured windows and corbelled coping to flat roof.

TRANSEPTS: 5-light window with colonette mullions at ground and large rose window above, hoodmoulded to W; trefoil at apex; E window at ground obscured by modern addition.

N ELEVATION: piend-roofed stair towers projecting from gabled bay at centre with tall 4-light traceried window; gablehad stack.

SINGLE STOREY CHURCH HALL AND VESTRY: separate buildings adjoining church; rectangular-plan; chamfered angels; cusped windows at intervals; gabled bay breaking eaves to E and W respectively.

INTERIOR: coverted to hall by masking original windows with timber louvres and suspending new ceiling from double braced timber roof and galleries (1972); floreate stone corbels (painted); cast-iron columns to former S gallery (now organ gallery); gothic traceried timber pulpit from St Margaret's, Juniper Green; mid to late 20th century organ salvaged from Argyle Place Church (demolished 1974); timber altar with gothic details; life-size Sicilian marble medalion portrait of Horatius Bonar in vestibule, sculpted by George J Webster in 1890; patterned stained glass to traceried N window (above suspended ceiling).

Grey slate pitched roof with fishscale banding; gables coped with overlapping stone slabs; stone cross finial to S gable; cast-iron weathervane finial to belfry; corniced gablehead stack to N; ridge stack to offices; 2 conical-capped ventilators to church hall.

Low coped rubble wall to Chalmers Crescent and Grange Road; high coped rubble mutual wall to N; ashlar gatepiers with chamfered angles, pyramidal coping, and polygonal bases to cast-iron lamp standards (lamps missing); modern cast-iron or steel gates with cast vesica panels.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. The church was originally referred to as Grange Free Church, but was more formally known as the Chalmers Memorial Free Church, in commemoration of the great Disruption leader, Dr Thomas Chalmers. The first minister was Dr Horatius Bonar, the famous hymn writer. The church has changed its name on several occasions, the last being in 1968 when the congregation merged with that of Argyle Place Church and adopted the name "St Catherin's Argle". A spire was projected to the SE of the main entrtance, but due to a lack of funds only the base was ever built.

References

Bibliography

T Maxwell ST CATHERIN'S IN GRANGE CHURCH - A CENTENARY HISTORY 1866-1966; Grange Association (1982), p49; Gifford et al. EIDNUBRGH (1984), pp593-594; M Cant SCIENNES AND THE GRANGE (1990), pp116-121.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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