Qualla: Old College, University of Edinburgh

Old College, University of Edinburgh: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the roof of the Old College, a gilded bronze figure of a naked youth holds a torch above Edinburgh. The figure marks the apex of the dome, and the dome was added almost a century after the foundation stone was laid. Below it sits one of the great neoclassical buildings of Britain, designed by Robert Adam in 1789, abandoned when Adam died and the wars came, finished by William Henry Playfair in the 1820s, and finally crowned with its dome in 1887. Nothing about this building happened on schedule. The result is still one of Edinburgh's most beautiful courtyards.

Image: Stephencdickson | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old College, University of Edinburgh: Tounis College

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Maccoinnich~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0. The University of Edinburgh's origin lies in a royal charter granted by King James VI of Scotland in 1582 to the city's town council. The result, the Tounis College, was so called because it was a civic foundation rather than a royal one. James himself visited in 1617 and propose...

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Maccoinnich~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old College, University of Edinburgh: Shaming the Burghers

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marcok, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reform took decades. Principal William Robertson warned of dilapidation. A 1768 pamphlet called for subscriptions and was ignored. Then, in 1784, the city decided to build South Bridge across the Cowgate, cutting through the College Gardens. In a December letter that year, classi...

Image: Marcok | CC BY-SA 4.0

Old College, University of Edinburgh: Adam, Death, and the Anatomist's Stone

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Globaltraveller assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0. Adam's plan was sweeping: a main entrance from South Bridge into a First Court, then a square Great Court ringed with halls and lecture rooms. The foundation stone was laid on 16 November 1789 not by a mayor or a duke but by Professor of Anatomy Alexander Monro, secundus, the sec...

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Globaltraveller assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old College, University of Edinburgh: Playfair Finishes the Job

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian McNeil, CC BY 3.0. In 1815 fresh funds were raised. Nine architects submitted proposals. The commission went to William Henry Playfair, who would shape much of Edinburgh's neoclassical core. Playfair stayed faithful to Adam's vision but simplified it, combining the two planned courts into a single ...

Image: Brian McNeil | CC BY 3.0

Old College, University of Edinburgh: The Quadrangle Today

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vysotsky, CC BY-SA 4.0. What was once called the New College became the College, and in the early 20th century, after the Free Church College of 1843 took over the title New College on the Mound, this building became Old College. It now houses parts of the University's administration, the Edinburgh Law ...

Image: Vysotsky | CC BY-SA 4.0