Edinburgh St Andrew's Church Clermiston
Building our Church
The congregation of St. Andrew’s Clermiston was established in 1954 under the Church Extension Committee to meet the worship needs for the new community that was being built in the north-west area of Corstorphine Hill. The sanctuary was opened in April 1957.
Our main building, which is now a B listed building, was designed by the renowned Scottish architect, Sir Basil Spence whose other credited work includes Coventry Cathedral and the British Embassy in Rome.
We have an aisle-less nave and gabled church with ancillary wing to north and tripod belltower to south.
It has been built into the slope of the hill with rubble retaining boundary walls and steps. Rendered cavity brick walls with gables predominantly of squared, recycled rubble form the main structure and it has a pitched roof with Ballachulish slate.
The front of our building has a central timber 2 leaf door under canopy with canopied walkway to the right leading to a 4 staged concrete and steel open framed tripod belltower topped with Cross and Ball. The Cross and Ball atop the tower were topped in gold leaf and this 'light of christ' was intended to be seen over the Forth in Fife.
The interior of the Sanctuary is an irregular polygonal plan with timber lined ceiling and plastered walls.
At the east end, is a raised triangular platform with timber liturgieal furniture, a triangular communion table to match the platform and a large timber cross mounted on the rubble wall.
Natural light shines through 22 windows on both sides of the walls with lighting suspended from the ceiling by wires. The organ loft is at the rear.
Our Large Hall extension which was built in the early 1970’s also has a Stage area and fully fitted kitchen. The Large Hall and Stage area were refurbished in 2017/18 which included adding dance mirrors as well as fitting a full sound and light system for the stage.
The temporary building that was built to be used for worship in 1954 and which was only expected to be used for two to three years was refurbished in 2010 and named the Buttercup Hall. This building is still used today on a daily basis by a variety of different groups.
