Dundas House: The Mansion That Stole a Church's Place
Why is it significant?
Back on St Andrew Square, stand in front of the mansion on the east side, set back behind its forecourt like a country house that wandered into town. Three storeys of fine stone, a pediment, perfect Palladian proportions. And no church... which is exactly the point.
Key Facts
| Place | Dundas House: The Mansion That Stole a Church's Place |
|---|---|
| Address | 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh EH2 2YB, UK |
| Geo Coordinates | 55.95440, -3.19170 |
| Part of Walk | Edinburgh's New Town: Georgian Squares, Crescents and the Plan That Built a City |
| Generated | Generated |
Back on St Andrew Square, stand in front of the mansion on the east side, set back behind its forecourt like a country house that wandered into town. Three storeys of fine stone, a pediment, perfect Palladian proportions. And no church... which is exactly the point.
On James Craig's plan this was the spot for St Andrew's Church, meant to close the long view down George Street. But Sir Laurence Dundas, one of the richest men in Britain, got hold of the plot first. Between 1771 and 1774 he built himself this mansion to designs by Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset House in London. The council grumbled, and then quietly moved the church to George Street, where you saw it at the start.
This is a different Dundas from the man on the column. Sir Laurence made his fortune as a contractor supplying the British army in the wars of the mid-eighteenth century, and, like many great fortunes of that age, his also reached into Caribbean plantations worked by enslaved people. The New Town's elegance was built partly on money like this, and it is worth saying so while standing in front of it.
Since 1825 the house has been the head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland. In the 1850s the bank added a banking hall behind it, crowned with a dome pierced by dozens of star-shaped windows, so that customers counted their money under a sky full of stars. Nearly two hundred years later, it is still a working bank.
So the walk ends where it began, between two Dundases: a politician on a column and a contractor in a palace, both a little too powerful for the city's comfort. In between you have seen what that wealth paid for, the squares, the crescents, the twelve-sided circus, and the lanes where the work was done. Princes Street is just a few steps south of here... and from there, Calton Hill and its monuments are close at hand.