Burtons Edinburgh Princes St Shop, Scottish capital retail building photo, Arcadia property, Architect

Burtons Edinburgh : Store

Princes Street Store by Sir John Burnet, New Town, Scotland

Forsyth’s Department Store – latterly Burtons Shop, Princes St, Scotland

Design: Sir John James Burnet Architect

Dats built: 1906-07

Forsyth’s was constructed as Scotland’s first steel framed building, built as a full-height department store – like nearby Jenners, for R.W. Forsyth.

Burtons Store Edinburgh

Edinburgh store image © Adrian Welch, 2005

News Updates:
£26m purchase by BHs owner Sir Philip Green: additional two floors of shopping with restaurant on the roof.
July 2006

Reported to be on market with ideas for store, hotel and rooftop restaurant mooted Apr 2006

Owners Arcadia are possibly moving west along Princes Street in 2008

Store Outlets: Burton, Top Man, Top Shop, Principles, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins

Princes Street Shopping – Shops / Buildings

building photo © Adrian Welch, 27 September 2007

John James Burnet
1857-1938
Born in Glasgow, JJ Burnet studied at the Institute des Beaux Arts, Paris.

Sir John James Burnet was also responsible for the B listed Finlaystone House in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The original 14thc Finlaystone House was extended in 1900 by Sir John James Burnet. George Jardine Kidston bought the building in 1897, engaged John James Burnet, a leading Glasgow commercial architect.

A key feature of JJ Burnet’s interior at Finlaystone House is a pair of pink marble pillars with a mythological beast at their base. This was John James Burnet’s favourite way of ending a stair rail.The drawing room with its white marble fireplace and bow window overlooking the River Clyde, is one of the finest of Burnet’s interiors.

JJ Burnet: Buildings in Scotland:-
Burtons Store, Edinburgh 1906-07
The Athenaeum, Glasgow 1886
Finlaystone House, Renfrewshire 1900
Trustee Savings Bank, Ingram Street / Glassford Street, Glasgow 1894-1900
Charing Cross Mansions 2-30 St George’s Rd, Charing Cross, Glasgow 1889-91
Barony Hall, High Street / 1 Castle Street, Glasgow 1886-9; conversion 1990 J J Burnet & J A Campbell; conversion David Leslie – Victorian Church in Gothic Revival style now used as a ceremonial / graduation hall for the University of Strathclyde. The Barony Hall interior has original furnishings.

Also by Sir John Burnet is St. Andrew’s House with Thomas Tait

Adjacent building to the west is by 3d Architects: H&M

Edinburgh store image © Alastair Cook 2007