Donaldson's College

I suppose the continued theme from yesterday's landmark blip is "Parliaments" or specifically " might have been Parliaments".

This is Donaldson's College in West Coates , which used to be the main road in to Edinburgh from the west , at the Haymarket end. The building was once much more visible from the road but I noticed today when I took this picture ( I had been chairing a meeting in the Scottish Funding Council premises just across the street ) how the trees at the front have grown in recent years, blocking full appreciation of the wonderful frontage and the large scale. Indeed it is said that Queen Victoria thought it was grander than any of her palaces.

Built in the middle of the 19th century as a school for poor and deaf children it housed the national school for the deaf until that moved to Linlithgow in 2007. Apparently it will eventually be turned into apartments but in 1997 it was briefly considered as a possible home for the new Scottish Parliament. I have always felt it should have been treated more seriously as a contender.

The famous Dovecot Tapestry Studios were based in temporary accommodation at the back for some years and I visited them there when I was Shadow Culture Minister. They are now in beautiful premises in Infirmary Street ( converted from fire damaged swimming baths) - one of the calmest spaces in Edinburgh I always think.