The Old Royal High School is the name commonly given to a historic building on Calton Hill in Edinburgh which formerly housed the school of that name. The metonym Regent Road, from the street address, is used within the school community to distinguish it from the school's other past sites. The building is also referred to in some official sources as New Parliament House from a 1978 proposal to convert it for that use.
After the Old Royal High School was vacated in 1968, the building became available to house the proposed devolved Scottish Assembly, and was accordingly refurbished in the 1970s. However, the 1979 devolution referendum failed to provide sufficient backing for a devolved Assembly in Scotland. Instead the building has been used as offices for departments of Edinburgh City Council, including The Duke of Edinburgh's Award unit and the Sports and Outdoor Education unit.
With the successful passage of the Scotland Act 1998 and the introduction of Scottish devolution in 1999, the Old Royal High School was again mooted as a potential home for the new Scottish Parliament. Eventually, however, the Scotland Office decided to site the new legislature in a purpose-built structure in the Canongate area of Holyrood.
Subsequently, a number of uses have been suggested for the building, including a home for a Scottish National Photography Centre. As of February 2010, Edinburgh City Council - the building's current owners - have initiated a project to lease the building to be used as a hotel and art gallery.
Edinburgh's original Parliament House is in the Old Town just off the Royal Mile and currently houses the Court of Session. These were the buildings of the former Parliament of Scotland which existed before the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and the foundation of a British Parliament sitting at London's Palace of Westminster.
Read more about Old Royal High School: Construction and Royal High School, Scottish Devolution, Prospective and Future Uses
Famous quotes containing the words royal, high and/or school:
“The Royal Navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of the island.”
—William Blackstone (1723–1780)
“The house one story high in front, three stories
On the end it presented to the road.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“By school age, many boys experience pressure to reveal inner feelings as humiliating. They think their mothers are saying to them, “You must be hiding something shameful.” And shucking clams is a snap compared to prying secrets out of a boy who’s decided to “clam up.””
—Ron Taffel (20th century)