Opening of New Medical School, 1884

A new Medical School designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson (1834-1921) was officially opened in 1884.

The opening of the school was the centrepiece of Edinburgh University's Tercentenary Festival, which was delayed for a year from the historically correct tercentenary date of 1883 to allow for the completion of the building.

The new buildings were a response both to growing student numbers and to changing approaches to the teaching of medicine. Where clinical experience in the Royal Infirmary had previously been thought sufficient for a trainee doctor, it was now felt that students required a training in scientific theory. The great medical schools of Europe were increasingly fitted with laboratories, museums, and theatres for both teaching and research. The Medical Faculty's existing accommodation in Old College could clearly not be extended or adapted for such purposes.

A bequest of £20,000 from Dundee industrialist Sir David Baxter of Kilmaron (1793–1872) permitted the university to start planning a new school in earnest. It launched a public appeal in 1874 to raise funds for a new site which brought in donations amounting to £82,000. An application was made to the Government, who awarded the university an additional sum of £80,000.

In January 1874 a public architectural competition had been held to find the best design for a new site. The winning submission came from Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, whose original design incorporated a giant campanile and both examination and graduation halls. A condition of the government grantEdinburgh secured a government grant of £80,000 for its medical school, but on condition that the campanile and hall were dropped, and that further sums were raised by subscription. It was also found, as tends to be the way with such projects, that the cost of equipping the building and incorporating the latest scientific advances had been badly underestimated. By 1884 successive appeals had raised about £130,000, but even then the building was not fully fitted out, and a further appeal for £15,000 had to be launched in January 1885

Completion

The formal transfer of the New Buildings to the Senatus Academicus was passed by Resolution of the New Building Committee on 26 Oct 1888. The work of the Building Committee was now considered to be complete, with the McEwan Hall underway, although this was not completed and handed over to the University until 1897 .

Archives

• Sir Robert Rowand Anderson collection
• Records of Edinburgh University Buildings Extension Scheme
• Senatus minutes

The Tercentenary was celebrated in 1884 instead of the historically correct date of 1883 in order to coincide with the opening of the new Medical School. order to coincide with the opening of the ‘New Buildings’. These were a response not just to growing numbers, but to changing practices in medical education: besides clinical experience in the Royal Infirmary, itself recently rebuilt, students now needed a grounding in scientific theory, and large and modern laboratories were essential if Edinburgh was to retain its reputation.

Having already bought the site, the university launched a public appeal in 1874, and an initial £60,000 was raised. The architect, Robert Rowand Anderson, made a tour of British and continental universities to examine the latest developments. His design included a giant campanile, which had no functional purpose despite vague references to Galileo-style physics experiments, and a graduation and examination hall, which certainly had practical functions but was also part of the desire to make ceremonials more impressive and to promote graduates’ identification with their alma mater.18 ‘It was hardly fitting the dignity of a great University’, said a speak

Edinburgh secured a government grant of £80,000 for its medical school, but on condition that the campanile and hall were dropped, and that further sums were raised by subscription. It was also found, as tends to be the way with such projects, that the cost of equipping the building and incorporating the latest scientific advances had been badly underestimated. By 1884 successive appeals had raised about £130,000, but even then the building was not fully fitted out, and a further appeal for £15,000 had to be launched in January 1885