 Each era of Edinburgh's history gave the city a new architectural style - from the Georgian-era expansion of the New Town, to the classical influences of William Playfair, to the Victorian 'improvements' of the original Old Town - and the developments of the middle of the twentieth century were no exception. Although a significant number of architects were involved in remodelling and developing the city centre, the work of Basil Spence continues to draw attention, and shows the modernist style which became so prevalent in the 1950s and '60s. Born in India in 1907 to British parents, Spence was sent to Edinburgh for schooling, where he studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, becoming a lecturer whilst still a student there.  Spence's earliest work in Edinburgh is the former garage on Causewayside which was designed in a typical art deco style in 1933. This structure is seamlessly integrated into the mix of commercial and residential properties of the street, and shows the early adoption of some of the principles of modernism - including the use of materials like steel, concrete and glass - the simplicity of shape, and a minimalist approach to decoration. In the years that followed, Spence would work in a variety of styles, including Scots Baronial-inspired houses, and pavilions for the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938, before joining the British army on the outbreak of the Second World War. Spence took part in the D-Day Landings of 1944, and on returning to civilian life after the war took up a series of academic and architectural posts - his most significant work of this period was the redesign of Coventry cathedral, which had been obliterated by German bombings. Spence rebuilt the cathedral by preserving the ruined section of the original structure and integrating it with his modern wing to create a space of memorial and remembrance alongside the operational church building. It would be the work which garnered Spence his knighthood in 1960.  Back in Edinburgh, Spence's architectural firm was responsible for creating the Morthonhall crematorium to the south of the city centre, a modernist concrete structure that was angled to maximise the light into its main chapel space. The coloured glass windows (pictured at the top of the page) provide a visual reference to religious worship in a building that can also be adapted for secular services. In 2005 the Mortonhall crematorium was listed as one of the 100 best modern buildings in Scotland, and is today a grade-A listed structure.  The next major Edinburgh commission that Spence's firm was responsible for was the central library of the University of Edinburgh, on George Square in the Old Town. Designed to resemble rows of bookshelves - a neat reference to the building's purpose and function - the library was, on its completion, the largest university library in the UK, with each of its eight floors providing an acre of shelf space.  This represented a continuation of Spence's relationship with the university, after the construction of the James Clerk Maxwell building at the King's Buildings science and engineering campus. The buildings here are an intriguing mix of styles, from the 1920s sandstone structures of the zoology department to the contemporary tower blocks of the twenty-first century. Spence was also responsible for developments along the Canongate section of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, to provide better quality contemporary housing for residents at a time when many of the old streets and former industrial areas had fallen into overcrowding and disrepair - "a wonderful opportunity to get vitality back into the Royal Mile," as Spence noted in his plans.  Into the 1970s his work became even more highly stylised, and the former Scottish Widows life assurance offices at the top of Dalkeith Road are probably some of the most intriguingly shaped structures in the city. Built as a series of connected hexagons, the buildings combine concrete, glass and steel in a typical modernist style, and also had ponds (now largely drained) running beneath the elevated elements of the structures. This building won a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award in 1977 and was occupied by the Scottish Widows organisation until 2020. The building is currently at risk of demolition to allow a total redevelopment of the site.  Although Spence died in 1976, his firm continued his legacy and his vision of striking, modernist buildings - and fittingly, the last Edinburgh work that they were involved with was back on Causewayside, a stone's throw from the art deco garage that Spence had created as a young man.
The National Library of Scotland annex, on the site of the nineteenth century Middlemass biscuit factory, houses an extensive archive of historic maps. It was built in the early 1980s and bridges the style gap between modernism and Edinburgh's contemporary developments, which often blend sandstone (the original building material of the city) and glass. Spence's architectural work wasn't limited to Scotland, or even the UK. He built the Beehive, part of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings in Wellington, and the British Embassy building in Rome, as well as designs for high-profile projects in New Delhi and Bahrain. But his legacy became a complicated one, as although he had been at the forefront of modernism in his earlier years, by the time of Spence's death public taste had turned against the brutalist concrete style that can be found in much of his architecture. Some of the projects on which he worked - social housing in Glasgow, a leisure centre in London, Newcastle's central library - have since been demolished, and others have been modified or adapted for more contemporary use. His surviving Edinburgh buildings represent a cross-section of style, and contribute to the city's diverse and intriguing spread of architecture. And, crucially, many of them remain in use nearly half a decade after his death. Discover more of Edinburgh's diverse architecture on my private city walking tours! Comments are closed.
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