I had 3 or 4 pics to choose from today but settled on this one. Frances and I went up to see Edinburgh's Xmas festivities and to have our annual steak sandwich and some apple strudell at the German market. As i stood in Princes Street gardens I turned and saw this lovely building looking down over us. In the foreground to the right is the outdoor ice rink and to the left is the kiddies fun fair, but it's that building overlooking the gardens from the Mound I wanted to show you.
Here is a little bit of its history.
The Bank of Scotland Headquarters stands on Edinburgh's Mound looking down over East Princes Street Gardens. The HQ Building was initiated while Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville (1742 - 1811), was Governor of the Bank. The Bank Headquarters was built by architects Robert Reid (1774 - 1856) and Richard Crichton. David Bryce (1803 - 76) refurbished the Interior in 1862 and added new domed wings with a grand replacement central dome. The Bank of Scotland Headquarters were remodelled again in 1929 and 1981.
Established by an Act of the Scottish Parliament in 1695, the Bank of Scotland is the oldest surviving UK clearing bank. The Bank started in Edinburgh's Old Town, at Old Bank Close in the Lawnmarket, before relocating to the Mound. The Bank of Scotland merged with the Halifax Building Society in 2001, becoming HBoS Plc, a group with assets approaching £300 billion, but the Bank's headquarters remain in Edinburgh. Since 1987 the Bryce building has included a banking museum.