Teviot Row House

Teviot Row House, home of Edinburgh University Union, was opened on 19 October 1889. It is the oldest purpose built student union in the world.

Following its formation in 1884, the Students' Representative Council set as its first priority the opening of a University Union, to provide recreational and social facilities for students and staff. It launched a campaign of public fundraising. Letters were sent to prominent figures in Edinburgh and public subscription lists were opened. £5000 was raised in this manner, and further contributions were received from the Senatus Academicus (£500) and Town Council (£100). In November 1886, a Fancy Fair at Waverley Market brought in a further £10,000. Funds were now sufficient to engage an architect Sydney Mitchell (1856-1930) and to begin construction on a site adjoining the newly opened Medical School.

Teviot Row House (in a distinctive fifteenth-century palace-block style) was very much designed on the lines of a Victorian gentleman's club. It initially included a restaurant, library (with books donated by academics and former students), gymnasium (converted into a billiards room in 1894), and a debating hall, which would become both a meeting place for many university societies and a venue for dances and other social events. Membership was male only, and by subscription, and at first only a small minority of students joined. Unsurprisingly, given the proximity of the Union to their classrooms, these were preponderantly medical students.

From 1896 onwards, Thursday afternoon concerts were held in the Debating Hall (with members encouraged to bring lady friends as guests). These were to prove a most useful sources of funding for repairs to the building and maintenance. Also in 1896, Teviot Row was connected to the telephone exchange, and a barber shop was established which was to be remain part of the Union for over 75 years.

The introduction of in-house catering in 1897-98, led to a great increase in use of the Union. by 1902, both the Debating Room and the East Reading Room had been pressed into service as adjuncts to the Dining Hall, leaving precious little seating accommodation elsewhere in the building. A new campaign was launched to fund an extension to the existing building. Subscriptions were collected from students, staff, and from prominent Edinburgh figures and businesses. A sum of £20,000 was raised, permitting the Union to re-employ Sydney Mitchell. In 1902, two extra floors were added on top of the service block to the east of building. These contained a Committee Room and one further new room for building management. By 1903, a new billiard hall had been completed, and the size of dining accommodation doubled. A further extension was funded in 1905 by borrowing funds on security of the existing building and by doubling both the annual Union subscription fee and the Life Membership fee. This permitted an expansion of the library, the creation of new reading room space, and the fitting of electric lights throughout the building. The complete extension was officially opened on 19 October 1906.

In March 1900, Committee of Enquiry appointed by Committee of Management to report on extending the Union to provide more dining accommodation, library space, reading rooms, and space for billiard players

Friday Night Dances Cinderellas Tournaments in billiards, chess, golf, bridge, and whist

Introduction of milk bar in 1930s

By 1920s, vital centre of all university activities, club meetings, evening entertainments, a wide range of general facilities, and a social atmosphere much in demand. Members made use of the building to entertain guests, use the library or reading rooms, and enjoy bar and dining facilities

Union concerts and regular fundraising dances (and dances after debates_ Union Palais became one of the most popular university attractions after 2nd world war, dances in Debating Hall attracting crowds of over 400 (particularly on rugby international nights - making it the most popular dance held anywhere in Edinburgh), leading to the floor being strengthened in 1953

Television set installed in 1953, and in the same year a union shop opened, selling tobacco, stationery, and newspapers

1950s and 1960s increasingly used for conferences and congresses and formal dinners

After war huge increase in student numbers again saw West Reading Room transformed into a dining room (1955-56)

Provision of an extension necessitated the transfer of ownership of building to University, as the University Grants Committee would not permit funds it supplied to be used for improving a building the University did not own

1960s extension:

A Basement - new joiner's shop and increased storage facilities Ground Floor - New billiard room First Floor - annexe to Snack Bar with balcony

B Basement - present Billiard Room becomes extension to Smoke Room Ground Floor - new office to be built with the Subscriptions office, Entrance Hall renovated and redesigned First Floor - West Reading Room to revert to use as Reading Room Professors' Cloakroom to have increased toilet accommodation Top Storey - Debating Hall to be used as Dining Hall, with kitchens to be extended into Sun Lounge

Complete late in 1963

Record lending section added to library, and coffee and milk machines installed, soft drink vending machine in Scotland (1967). First fruit machine (1968)

1964 the Offices and Shops Act and the Building Standards (Scotland) REgulations A1963 meant that fire exits and fire doors had to be installed

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See Also

• Foundation of Students' Representative Council, 1884
• Opening of University Union, 1889
• Foundation of Edinburgh University Students' Association, 1973

Sources

• Robert D. Anderson, 'The Construction of a Modern University', in Robert D. Anderson, Michael Lynch, and Nicholas Phillipson, The University of Edinburgh: An Illustrated History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 103-207.
• Iain Catto (ed.), 'No spirits and precious few women': Edinburgh University Union 1889-1989 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Union and Iain Catto, 1989)
• Sir Thomas Henry Holland, 'Introduction', in A. Logan Turner (ed.), History of the University of Edinburgh 1883-1933 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1933), pp. xiii-xxx.