Edinburgh College of Art

Edinburgh College of Art stands in the heart of the city’s Old Town, overlooking the Grassmarket with Edinburgh Castle rising behind it. The college began in 1760 as the Trustees Drawing Academy, training designers for Scotland’s industries. In 1907 it became Edinburgh College of Art and moved to its red-sandstone main building on Lady Lawson Street. The Beaux-Arts style building houses the Sculpture Court with casts of the Elgin Marbles alongside student work. Five schools make up the college today: Art, Music, Design, History of Art, and Architecture & Landscape Architecture. The college has shaped Scottish art and education for centuries. Its first master was French painter William Delacour, followed by artists such as Alexander Runciman and David Allan. In 1858 it joined the South Kensington system and became the Government School of Art. The Reid Professor of Music was established in 1839, and the Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Art followed, the first of its kind in Britain. In 2005 it launched Screen Academy Scotland with Edinburgh Napier University. Visitors find a mix of historic and modern spaces. The 1909 main building’s Sculpture Court displays antique casts and changing student exhibitions. Evolution House, a nine-storey tower completed in 2003, holds the art and design library and design studios. The Wee Red Bar hosts gigs and theatre during the Fringe. Minto House on Chambers Street and Alison House in Nicolson Square are part of the enlarged campus, alongside the former fire headquarters now on Lauriston Place.