2020
2 Hillside Crescent, Edinburgh: From Branch meeting house to luxury
July 2020


2 Hillside Crescent, Edinburgh: From Branch Meeting House to Luxury

Number 2, Hillside Crescent, Edinburgh, is currently a very upmarket bed and breakfast establishment in a prime city centre location. It is A-listed for being a building of special architectural interest. No notices are allowed to be displayed on the windows, railings, or doorway, and any proposed alterations are subject to strict rules and scrutiny. The basement has become a separate dwelling.

“I had no idea! I can’t wait to tell the neighbours,” was the response of the current owner, when she found out it had previously been used by a congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Clients have sometimes asked her what it was used for before, as they felt a certain peaceful ambiance. When she and her partner took over the ground and upper floors of the property in 2007, she was only aware that it had been a gym and hosted a judo club for over 30 years.

The town house, comprising three floors and a basement, is part of an elegant classical Georgian terrace, designed around 1820 by architect William Henry Playfair (1790–1857). The properties are notable for their repeating Greek Doric columns, with a continuous decorative ironwork balconette on the first floor. Playfair was one of the most influential Scottish architects of his time, designing many outstanding buildings in Edinburgh and elsewhere, including the City Observatory, George Heriot’s Hospital, and the National Gallery of Scotland. The census records from 1841 to 1911 show that the occupants of the terrace were typically well-to-do merchants or bankers’ families, with servants.

In the 1950s, the Church bought several properties in major Scottish cities to house growing postwar congregations. The purchase of 2 Hillside Crescent was finalised in January 1951. Those purchasing the property are listed as George Albert Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, Stephen Longstroth Richards, Harold Bingham Lee, Spencer Woolley Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, and Legrand Richards.1

Edinburgh Branch had fared considerably better than most Scottish congregations, as for the previous few years it had rented space in a similarly attractive property nearby at Ruskin House, Windsor Street, also designed by William Playfair. Lloyd and Martha Martin who began their mission in Britain in October 1950, spent their first two and a half months working in Bournemouth. Then Mission President Stayner Richards gave them a special assignment to go to Edinburgh to fix up the building.

They arrived on 15 January 1951. Brother Martin served as branch president and had responsibility to oversee fundraising for the proportion of costs the members were required to pay towards the building. Living on the property, the Martins got to work right away. They had the chapel area ready for the first meeting on 1 February 1951. Members worked days and evenings with the Martins until October 1951 to complete the necessary work, to bring the property up to standard and adapted to the needs of the congregation. As they worked together, they came to love and appreciate each other more.2

The Saints felt great excitement as the long-awaited day of dedication came on 4th June 1952, when President David O. McKay would be in their midst. Around 200 people attended. A printed programme had been prepared beforehand with some photographs of the interior.3 For President McKay it was also a very emotional occasion, a time to reminisce. His grandparents had joined the church in the northern county of Caithness, in the parish of Thurso, over a hundred years before. He, his father, David, and his grandfather William McKay, had all returned from America to serve missions in Scotland. Struggling to steady a quiver in his voice, he paraphrased a verse from poet Robert Burns, Epigram to a kind host, to say:

“When death’s dark stream I ferry o’er

A time that surely shall come

In heaven itself I’ll ask no more

Than just a Scottish welcome.”

Notes

  1. Appendix I Property Search Sheet.

  2. David O McKay Audio-visual Collection 1952–1967. Church History Library Reference AV51.

  3. Appendix II Dedication programme.