Jenners

Jenners stands on Princes Street in Edinburgh, a grand department store built after a fire destroyed its predecessor in 1892. The present building was designed by William Hamilton Beattie in an ornate early Renaissance Revival style, with six storeys, an attic and a seven-storey tower on the south-east corner. Its facade features rows of female caryatids, symbolising women as the support of the house. Inside, a grand saloon hall has three-storey wooden galleries and a glass and timber roof, topped by a large Christmas tree each winter. The building is a category A listed structure, recognised for its architectural importance. The store was founded in 1838 by Charles Jenner and Charles Kennington, later run by the Douglas Miller family for many years. It earned the nickname the ‘Harrods of the North’ and held a Royal Warrant from 1911. Queen Elizabeth II visited in 1988 for its 150th anniversary. In 2005, the Douglas Miller family sold the business to House of Fraser, though the store kept its name. The building’s lease was held by JPSE Ltd, owned by the family, and later sold to Anders Holch Povlsen in 2017. After the department store closed in 2020, the building is being restored to become a 96-room hotel. Plans by David Chipperfield Architects retain the three-storey central atrium and the Jenners signage. The upper floors will house hotel rooms, while lower levels will feature retail, restaurants and cafés, with a new rooftop bar. The grand saloon hall and its timber galleries will remain a focal point. The project follows a fire in 2023 that injured five firefighters, one of whom later died.