South College Street:
Past, Present, Future
Welcome all visitors to 13-15 South College Street!
As you walked into this building, you may have noticed that it does not look like an ordinary building built for academic purposes. This is because this University space occupies the shell of a former church, which is now category B listed building. Aiming to honour the unique history of the building, we put together a small exhibition that celebrates different stages of the building’s story. We encourage you to take a walk through all floors of the building where you will find 10 stops with historical photographs. All of them are numbered chronologically and have labels with QR codes which you can scan to read more about each historical stage. As you walk, we also encourage you to notice the small details that hint at the origin of the building as a church – for instance, the beautiful pillars, the stained glass window and the original stone walls.
We hope you will enjoy the exhibition and your time at 13-15 South College Street!
Authors of the exhibition
All of the historical material you will discover on your visit was collected by people who work here:
Jo Newman
Executive Assistant to the Director of The City Region Deal, Data-Driven Innovation Programme
Jo has worked in the building for more than 10 years, through which she developed a strong connection with the building. This motivated her curiosity to explore the history of the building, and she diligently collected every little piece of historical information she could find.
Gintare Kulyte
Creative Projects Intern at Edinburgh Futures Institute
On her first visit to the building in summer 2022, Gintare was fascinated about the unusual decor of the space, and got curious about how and why do church buildings become repurposed for secular uses. She took care of the building’s website, and curated the exhibition.
We also thank Jennifer Williams and Patricia Erskine for their incredibly helpful assistance in planning and installing the exhibition.
