FX – August 2019

FOCUS 069

Above The building’s

double-height entrance foyer

with black oak-lined staircase

St Cecilia’s

Hall,

Edinburgh

Page\Park

Architects

ST CECILIA’S HALL, located within UNESCO’s World

Heritage site in Edinburgh’s Old Town, is of great

international importance. Originally built in 1763 and

Category A listed, the auditorium is Scotland’s oldest

purpose-designed concert hall.

Now owned by Edinburgh University, the building’s

museum contains many of the world’s best-preserved early

keyboard instruments. But in spite of its architectural

significance, St Cecilia’s had gradually been overwhelmed

by buildings as Edinburgh’s New Town grew.

Page\Park Architects was appointed to redevelop,

conserve and repair the building to enable St Cecilia’s to

become the principal destination for musical instrument

display, teaching and performance.

‘We saw the building as an old instrument that had fallen

into disrepair and needed a new mouthpiece to bring people

in,’ says Eilidh Henderson, lead architect and director at

Page\Park Architects. ‘One particular instrument in the

collection, a harpsichord that was highly decorated inside,

ALL IMAGES: JIM STEPHENSON