Last week, a fire destroyed the former Debenhams building in the heart of Edinburgh. The Princes Street building was once the home of the Scottish Liberal Club. The premises were sold in 1970 and many of the artefacts, including a bust of Gladstone, were removed by the Scottish Liberal Club. However, the beautiful wood panelled library was destroyed in the fire.

This was covered by the Edinburgh Evening News in which Convener of the Scottish Liberal Club Faith Sutherland and President (and LDV contributor) Lin Macmillan were quoted:

The Scottish Liberal Club, which once owned the property, has urged Historic Environment Scotland, the Cockburn Society and the City of Edinburgh Council to “work together towards restoring these historic buildings”.

In a joint statement, club president Lin Macmillan and convenor Faith Sutherland said: “We deeply regret the loss of 109 Princes Street and the damage to the adjoining premises.”

They confirmed a “fine bust” of former Prime Minister William Gladstone was saved after being moved into storage, but noted valuable oak panelling and other original features were left behind in the Gladstone Memorial Library, which remained a centrepiece of the store until its sale in 2023.

First opening its doors as the Palace Hotel in 1869, the building spent much of its pre-Debenhams days as the Scottish Liberal Club – a centre for political and social activity during the decades of Liberal Party dominance in Victorian Scotland.

During the creation of the Debenhams department store in the late 1970s, it merged with the neighbouring former Conservative Club. Despite the major construction project, the building retained much of its Victorian grandeur, including an ornate entrance hall, elaborate ceiling plasterwork, and the historic library.

John Lawrie, the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ wisest counsellor and co-writer of its constitution, was also interviewed by Edinburgh Live. He gave his memories of the building which he first visited as an 18 year old in 1961.

“I went there for meetings, and other functions too, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and you know it was a very fine building and it’s so sad. Princes Street doesn’t have that number of fine buildings, and it’s a great shame that this has happened.

“I suppose the first time I remember going there was for the Scottish Liberal Party, I think it was it twice a year council meeting something in the spring or summer of 1961 I would guess, when I was an enthusiastic 18-year-old young liberal.

“And I think the reason I remember it was because, you know, being a novice to these things, it was really exciting, and there were people who were in the public eye and a number of people who’d been around the Liberal Party for a very long time and so I can certainly remember the occasion.

“I seem to remember there was some lobbying for appointment to the Scottish Liberal Party executive, which of course was the body that ran it, ran the party, and this was my sort of first taste of electoral politics, but that, as I say, was 1961.”

I particularly love this bit:

“I remember the staircase. You came in through the front door and I guess at one stage there would have been a sort of porter’s lodge kind of thing, but I think by the time I was using it regularly – and I’m not sure that anybody was stationed there all the time but there must have been some means of stopping people from wandering in off the street – there was this magnificent staircase that you approached and it took you up to the first floor.

There was the Gladstone Library, which was a magnificent room, and it will certainly have been a great loss in the fire. A number of the artefacts that were there and I think quite a lot of the books had been removed.

“Then also on that floor there was the dining room, and I can remember attending one or two sort of reasonably significant dinners when somebody moderately celebrated would have been speaking, and I do remember a Burns supper shortly before the club closed its premises.”

In an email to members, the Scottish Liberal Club appealed for any photographs of the interior of the club:

At the moment we cannot find many photos of the interior of the building when it belonged to the Club. If you have photographs, could you let us know, please?

Do you have or know of any? If so, email us at [email protected]. and we’ll pass it on to the Club.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social