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The Stirling Highland Hotel
Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom · Independent · Near Luxury
You check in under twelve signs of the zodiac, carved around the door of the old High School of Stirling. The Hays of Liverpool built the Gothic school in 1854. A former pupil, James Marjoribanks MacLaren, added the wing in the late 1880s, and Henry Campbell-Bannerman, later Prime Minister, gave the copper-domed observatory in 1889. Laurence Pullar gave the telescope. The school moved on, and the building opened as a hotel in 1991, a short walk below the castle.
- Opened 1991
- Neighborhood: Top of the Town
- Architect: J. W. H. and J. M. Hay
About The Stirling Highland Hotel
- MacLaren died at 37. His school wing is one of the threads that later ran through to Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
- The school stands on the site of an older monastic school. A new south range went up in 1990 for the hotel conversion, and the doors opened in 1991.
- The Spittal Street doorway is a late sixteenth-century piece saved from a house at the corner of Academy Road, linked to Adam Spittal of Blairlogie.
- The old High School is Category A. The 1854 block is whinstone rubble with ashlar dressings, a vaulted pend, and a cloister onto the courtyard.
History
Stirling High School was built from 1854 to 1856 by J. W. H. and J. M. Hay of Liverpool, with sculpture by Handyside Ritchie, on the site of an older monastic school. James Marjoribanks MacLaren, a former pupil, won the competition for a new wing, built from 1887 to 1890 and finished by Robert Watson. Henry Campbell-Bannerman gave the observatory tower in 1889, and Laurence Pullar of Bridge of Allan gave the telescope. Twelve zodiac signs ring the main entrance. A primary wing followed in 1905. The building was converted in 1990, with a new south range, and the Stirling Highland Hotel opened in 1991.
The setting
The hotel is on Spittal Street and Academy Road in the upper town, a short walk below Stirling Castle and the Church of the Holy Rude. The copper dome reads against the castle skyline. King's Park, the Victorian suburb, lies further down the hill.
Open The Stirling Highland Hotel in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
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