The Dome, Edinburgh

The Dome is a building on George Street in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It currently functions as a bar, restaurant and nightclub, although it was first built as the headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Scotland in 1847. The building was designed by David Rhind in a Graeco-Roman style. It stands on the site of the Physicians' Hall, the offices of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, which was constructed in the 18th century to designs by James Craig, the planner of the New Town. The Dome is a category A listed building.

The Dome marks the place of the old Physicians' Hall, by architect James Craig. As the winner of the New Town planning competition in 1766, he received little recognition. He did, however, design the Physicians' Hall for the Royal College of Physicians, though, despite his credentials, the building does not stand today.

Aesthetically, the Hall was striking and beautiful to the human eye. "Its foundation stone was laid in 1776. The building, with an 84-foot-long (26 m) frontage, had a portico of four Corinthian columns and gave the College of Physicians a permanent home again after temporary refuge in the Royal Infirmary in Infirmary Street". Unfortunately for Craig, the sense of permanence was not achieved because the Hall did not suit the need of the physicians. "The physicians had money problems and were not entirely happy either with Craig's internal arrangements". Since the Hall was built for the use of the students, it did not achieve its original goal. "The physicians appeared never to have been completely happy with it and sold the site to the Commercial Bank, which ripped down Craig's building to erect a superb banking hall".

Owned by Scotland's Commercial Bank, a new project by architect David Rhind was on the horizon for the now empty lot. Previous to this architectural movement, the Church was the central structure in terms of financial dedication. Now, money was filtered and dedicated to the construction of banks and commercial property. "This undermined the political power of the old society of landed and established religious interests was now followed by a further acceleration of capitalist-led social and economic transformation". This means that to represent Scotland's more socialist outlook, buildings focused on serving the community as a whole, not just an elite or selective audience.

...
Wikipedia