Lothian House

A five-storey residential complex occupying an entire block on the west side of Lothian Road in Central Edinburgh, Lothian House is a rare example of an Art Deco building in the city. Built in 1936 as an office complex by the local architect Stewart Kaye (1885 - 1952), it incorporated a cinema at the northern end and shops at ground level. It features a sandstone facade and white-painted steel-frame windows. For many years the building served as an Inland Revenue tax office with the Post Office Philatelic Bureau also located here but was converted to domestic use in 1983, with shops remaining at ground level. The original plan included an hotel, which was never built, and a 3000-seat cinema. The Regal Cinema was renamed the ABC in 1969 and much reduced in size in 2000, with the excess space redeveloped as offices. A further section of the building on Semple Street was demolished and replaced by offices (2016-18), and blue glass panels which depict the trades of Edinburgh and the seasons were rescued from this lost section and re-displayed.

The bulk of the building now comprises 88 one and two bedroom flats, many of which are on two levels, allowing bedrooms to be placed to the rear away from the busy road. Long rather bleak corridors run the length of the building, while there is a communal laundry room and a leisure suite in the basement comprising a swimming pool, steam room and sauna, gym, games room, quiet room and recreation area.

A stone relief on the front of the building show canal workers and a barge commemorating Port Hopetoun, the original terminus of the Union Canal. This was filled in when the canal was cut back in 1922 and on which Lothian House was constructed. The building has been Category B listed since 1993.


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