West Register House

In 1809, Parliament resolved that when the population of the western part of the New Town reached 5,000, the civic authorities should build a new Church of Scotland church to serve the area's inhabitants. The eastern part of the New Town was already served by St Andrew's Church yet, as the New Town had expanded, demand for sittings had grown so great that some Presbyterian worshippers had resorted to attending St George's Episcopal Chapel on York Place.

Robert Adam had designed a church as the centrepiece of the western side of the square; The funds raised by renting pews in advance had proven insufficient, however. The city council therefore charged Robert Reid to create a new design. Reid had offered a verbal estimate of £18,000 for the costs of construction.Youngson 1966, p. 189.

The foundation stone was laid on 14 May 1811 by Lord Provost William Calder. Construction took three years and the first service took place on Sunday, 5 June 1814 during celebrations for the conclusion of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Henry Moncreiff-Wellwood, minister of St Cuthbert's, preached the first sermon.Gray 1940, p. 124. By completion, the cost of the project had nearly doubled to £33,000. Prior to opening, the charge had been erected as a parish quoad sacra by the presbytery with a parish area allotted from portions of St Andrew's and St Cuthbert's. As the charge was supported by the city council, St George's was a burgh church and the stipend of its minister was supported by diverting money from the second charge of the New North Church.Dunlop 1988, pp. 24–25, 126.

The church's first minister was Andrew Mitchell Thomson: the informal leader of the Church of Scotland's evangelical faction and a keen social reformer. When Thomson died in 1831, Thomas Chalmers, his effective successor as the leading evangelical, preached his funeral sermon in St George's. Assisted from 1823 by choirmaster R.A. Smith, Thomson also established St George's strong musical tradition, even holding choir practices at his house.Gray 1940, pp. 124–127. Smith's most notable successor was Alexander Mackenzie: who served as choirmaster and organist from 1870 to 1881.Gray 1940, p. 127.

Initially, St George's supported the Sunday school work of St Andrew's using the kitchen of the Assembly Rooms on George Street. Soon, St George's established its own schools in Rose Street and William Street before a mission was established on Young Street in 1835. In 1837, this congregation became a parish quoad sacra as St Luke's. At the Disruption of 1843, the congregation joined the Free Church.Dunlop 1988, p. 126-127.

St George's minister from 1834, Robert Smith Candlish, was second only to Chalmers as a leading evangelical; he was also an enthusiastic promoter of Sabbatarianism. At the Disruption of 1843, Candlish led out much of his congregation to form Free St George's.Gray 1940, pp. 127–128.{{efn|The Free congregation moved to a brick building in Castle Terrace then to a church by David Cousin on the west side of Lothian Road in 1845. 1n 1869, the congregation moved to a new church by David Bryce on Shandwick Place after the Caledonian Railway purchased their previous building. The congregation led many foreign and domestic missions. In 1900, the congregation joined the United Free Church and, in 1929, the Church of Scotland as St George's West.Dunlop 1988, pp. 159–160. In 2013, the congregation united with St Andrew's and St George's to form St Andrew's and St George's West. The congregation's Shandwick Place building has been occupied since 2016 by the Charlotte Chapel, a Baptist congregation.{{cite web|url=https://leeboyd.com/charlotte-chapel/|website=leeboyd.com|title=Charlotte Chapel|access-date=16 July 2021}}}} During Candlish's ministry, the congregation counted several Lords of Session, including James Wellwood Moncreiff and his son, James Moncreiff, 1st Baron Moncreiff; David Cathcart, Lord Alloway; James Ivory, Lord Ivory; Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn; John Fullerton, Lord Fullerton; Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank; and Thomas Maitland, Lord Dundrennan. Three Lord Provosts – William Trotter of Ballindean, Kincaid Mackenzie, and John Learmonth – were also seat-holders as were Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster and the scholars James Pillans and John Shank More.Gray 1940, pp. 128–129.

In the middle of the twentieth century, structural issues began to plague the building and a portal frame was erected to support the dome. The congregation launched an appeal for £40,000 in January 1960. Despite the appeal's success, the extent of dry rot in the building soon became apparent and the congregation entered into negotiations for union with St Andrew's. The charges were linked with a single minister in June 1962 and formal union was completed on 7 June 1964. At the time of its closure, the church maintained halls and a church officer's house at Randolph Place. The manse was at 17 Wester Coates Crescent, having been at 3 Melville Crescent before 1946.Dunlop 1988, p. 127.

The following ministers served St George's:Dunlop 1988, pp. 127–128.

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• 1814–1831† Andrew Mitchell Thomson
• 1831–1834† James Martin
• 1834–1843 Robert Smith Candlish
• 1843–1879 Robert Horne Stevenson
• 1880–1909† Archibald Scott
• 1909–1917† Gavin Lang Pagan
• 1918–1950† Charles William Gray Taylor
• 1951–1955 James Robert Thomson
• 1956–1962 William Cecil Bigwood

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† died in office

The building was purchased by Scottish Records Office and converted to a public record office under Robert Saddler of the Ministry of Public Building and Works. This involved the gutting of the interior to install five storeys and a two-storey entrance hall. During conversion, the West Register House was designated a Category A listed building in 1966.

Restoration work on the building, supported by Edinburgh World Heritage was completed in 2021. This included covering the exterior in scaffolding to restore stonework and to regild the cross at the top of the building.{{cite news |last=McLean |first=David |date=26 February 2021 |title=Stonemason praised for high quality restoration work at historic Edinburgh landmark |url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/stonemason-praised-for-high-quality-restoration-work-at-historic-edinburgh-landmark-3148065 |work=Edinburgh Evening News |location=Edinburgh |access-date=16 July 2021}} During the restoration, homelessness charities, including Shelter, criticised plans to install railings to deter rough sleepers.{{cite news |last=Loudon |first=Calum |date=20 April 2021 |title='Inhumane' railings would hurt homeless, say critics |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/inhumane-railings-would-hurt-homeless-say-critics-dzjxnvgbb |work=The Times |location=London |access-date=16 July 2021}}

File:MA(1829) p.157 - St George's Church, from George Street, looking West, Edinburgh - Thomas Hosmer Shepherd.jpg]]

A.J. Youngson called St George's dome "one of the most notable features of the Edinburgh skyline".Youngson 1966, p. 191. The church's dome is prominent in the western half of the first New Town and terminates the view along George Street.Grant 1880 ii p. 175. St George's occupies a site designated for a church in James Craig's initial plan for the New Town.RCAMS 1951, pp. 184–185.

Both George Hay and the Buildings of Scotland guide to Edinburgh note that while the building is out of proportion to its surrounding terraces, it forms an effective visual terminus to the view along George Street.Gifford, McWilliam, Walker 1984, p. 291. Ian Gordon Lindsay and William Forbes Gray also note the church's lack of proportion to Adam’s surrounding buildings. Gray surmises that Reid designed the church relative to the overall size of the square rather than to its neighbouring terraces.Lindsay 1948, p. 30.

File:Plans for St George's Church, Charlotte's Square.png's unexecuted plan for St George's (left) compared to Reid's finished plan (right)]]

In his plan for Charlotte Square, Robert Adam designed a church for this site. Modelled after St Paul's Cathedral, it was to have an advanced portico with a pediment supported on coupled columns. Pavilions with pilasters on the corners would have flanked this arrangement while supporting small domes on peristyle drums. The central dome would have been similar, albeit shallower and with four pedimented faces on the drum. By the time of St George's construction, concerns over cost and the waning popularity of the Adam style meant a new design was sought from Robert Reid.Gray 1940, p. 123.

File:St George's Parish Church, or West Register House - view of west elevation from W.jpg

The facade of the building, facing onto Charlotte Square, centres on a balustraded portico supported by four Ionic columns in antis and accessed a flight of shallow steps. Within the portico, two rectangular entrances flank an arched entrance. All are filled in with smoked glass, which replaced wooden doors at the time of the building's secularisation.

Two pavilions flank the portico. Each pavilion stands on a base course and contains a rectangular window and oculus within a recessed arch; above this, an empty frieze panel sits between an impost course and the cornice, which is continuous with the portico. The pavilions are topped by panelled attic storeys in line with the balustrade of the portico. Reid's drawings show plans to include clocks within the faces of the attic storeys and to crown the pavilions with statues of female figures. These were never executed. The rear facade of the building, which faces onto Randolph Place, centres on a rear of attenuated pavilions flanking a Diocletian window above a Venetian window. David Bryce drew up plans to add towers to the pavilions. This too was never carried out.{{Cite web|url=http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB27360|website=portal.historicenvironment.scot|title=Charlotte Square, West Register House (Former St George's Church): LB27360|access-date=14 July 2021}}

The building's prominent green copper dome and gilded cupola are supported by a two-stage drum. The bottom part of the drum is peristyled with every fourth bay blocked in by a niche. The shorter upper section is pierced with oculi. The drum and dome rise from a stout square base over the former vestibule at the front of the building.Hay in Gray 1961, p. 58.

The building's plan is 112 ft (34m) in width and length while its total height is 160 ft (49m). The exterior is constructed of Craigleith sandstone.

Prior to conversion, the sanctuary was shaped as a Greek cross. George Hay identifies this as one of only two such plans in Scottish churches of this period: the other is at Carnock in Fife.Hay 1957, p. 126. At the intersection of the cross’ limbs, piers in each corner spanned by coffered segmental arches supported a shallow, coffered dome centring on a circular light. Illumination was also provided by three-light windows in the north, south, and east arms. These same arms housed galleries while the west arm was occupied by the focal point of the pulpit, communion table, and pipe organ.Dunlop 1988, p. 127.

The church was able to accommodate 1,600 worshippers, the interior was, prior to conversion, relatively plain though distinguished by a large pulpit in Spanish mahogany by William Trotter. This stood at {{cvt|20|ft}} including its canopy, which was removed some time before 1940.Gray 1940, p. 129.Hay 1957, p. 188. The Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland's survey in 1951 found most of the furnishings were then modern while the doors to sanctuary were likely original. The surround of the central door to the sanctuary was fashioned as a memorial after the First World War.RCAMS 1951, p. 185. These doors connected the sanctuary to a spacious vestibule with gallery stairs.Hay 1957, p. 127. The organ was a two-manual Father Willis installed in 1882 and upgraded to three manuals by the same firm in 1897 and again enlarged by them in 1932. The organ was removed in 1962 and parts of it were reused at St Mary & St Giles Church, Stony Stratford.Dunlop 1988, p. 127.{{cite web|url=https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11969#PhotoSection|website=npor.org.uk|title=Midlothian Edinburgh, St. George, Charlotte Square [N11969]|access-date=16 July 2021}}

The current interior, dating from Robert Saddler's conversion of the building between 1964 and 1970, consists of five storeys. These are accessed via a two-storey entrance hall with mezzanine floor.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=401031|website=scottisharchitects.org.uk|title=Robert Saddler|access-date=14 July 2021}}

Early critics, including The Scots Magazine, drew negative comparisons between Reid's design and Adam's, noting that the latter could have been built for the ultimate cost of Reid's.Gray 1940, pp. 122–123. Victorian critics included John Ruskin, who called it "a most costly and most ugly building", and James Grant, who described the building as "heavy in appearance, meagre in detail, and hideous in conception".

Later writers were more measured. George Hay hailed the facade as a "fine composition" while noting the dome's lack of relation to the rest of the building. He also criticised the interior as "rather an anti-climax". William Forbes Gray described the building as "an impressive reminder that we were once in earnest about churchgoing".Gray 1940, p. 122. A.J. Youngson found harsher criticisms of the building unjust while also concluding "it is certainly a pity the Adam design was not used".

• List of listed buildings in Edinburgh

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• Dunlop, A. Ian (1988). The Kirks of Edinburgh: 1560–1984. Scottish Record Society. {{ISBN|0-902054-10-4}}
• Gifford, John; McWilliam, Colin; Walker, David (1984). The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh. Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-071068-X}}
• Grant, James (1880). Old and New Edinburgh. II. Cassell's.
• Gray, John G. (1961). The South Side Story. W. F. Knox & Co.
• Hay, George. "Newington and other Neo-Classic Kirks".
• Gray, William Forbes (1940). Historic Edinburgh Churches. The Moray Press.
• Hay, George (1957). The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches: 1560 to 1843. Oxford University Press.
• Lindsay, Ian G. (1948). Georgian Edinburgh. Oliver and Boyd.
• Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (1951). An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of the City of Edinburgh with the Thirteenth Report of the Commission. His Majesty's Stationery Office.
• {{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Hew |title=Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation |date=1915 |publisher=Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc01scot/page/105 |author-link=Hew Scott}}
• Youngson, Alexander J. (1966). The Making of Classical Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press.

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{{commons category|West Register House}}

• [http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB27360 Historic Environment Scotland: "Charlotte Square, West Register House (Former St George's Church): LB27360"]
• [https://canmore.org.uk/site/52590/edinburgh-charlotte-square-st-georges-parish-church Canmore: "Edinburgh, Charlotte Square, St George's Parish Church"]
• [https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11969#PhotoSection National Pipe Organ Registry: "Midlothian Edinburgh, St. George, Charlotte Square [N11969]"]

{{Government buildings in Edinburgh}}

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Category:Buildings and structures in Edinburgh

Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1814

Category:Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh

Category:New Town, Edinburgh

Category:Former churches in Scotland

Category:Domes in the United Kingdom