Art Deco buildings of Edinburgh tour with afternoon tea

We'll meet outside St Andrew's House, our Deco crown jewel, built as the Civil Service HQ for Scotland and still a major government building. Then you’ll embark with your guide on a tour of the city, stopping at our best 1930’s buildings. You’ll see streamlining in garage, school and roadhouse inn design, Beaux Arts style neoclassicism, true Le Corbusier modernism in a Craigmillar café, glamorous white apartment blocks, and form following function in monumental concrete bridgework. You’ll see inside Edinburgh’s top two restored Deco roadhouse inns, plus a beautiful 1938 branch Library.
Meantime, you’ll hear from your guide the inside story of how modernism came to Scotland and its architecture world. What happened when the unstoppable force of the modern movement met the immovable mass of Scottish conservatism? You’ll hear about the personalities and conflicts that shaped Scotland’s built environment, from Le Corbusier himself to Basil Spence, Edinburgh’s own superstar architect, plus we’ll be looking at the social changes that shaped the new architectures. You’ll hear the architects’ own words from articles and letters of the time, often quite boisterous!
Crystallising the Deco experience, you’ll enjoy inclusive afternoon tea and scones in Edinburgh’s greatest Deco roadhouse, the famous Maybury, now a working casino and restaurant, but with its 1936 interior detailing preserved. (Note entry 18 yrs. and over only, 18-25yrs ID must be carried under licensing law)
Refreshed by our tea and scones, we’ll head back to the city centre, calling at more great Deco sites as we go, and finishing the tour back at St Andrew's House. You’ll have seen the creme de la creme of Thirties Edinburgh!