Parliament House (Scottish Gaelic: Taigh na Pàrlamaid), located in the Old Town in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a historic parliament and court building containing several buildings which now houses the Supreme Courts of Scotland, the Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. The oldest part of the complex, known as Parliament Hall, was home to the Parliament of Scotland from 1639 to 1707, and was the world's first purpose-built parliament building. The complex is spread across seven floors, and contains 700 rooms, with the original building first designed and built by James Murray and completed in 1639, costing £10,555 which was paid for by Edinburgh Town Council. Prior to the construction of Parliament House, the Parliament of Scotland, the Court of Session and the Privy Council of Scotland all shared the same building which was located in the Tolbooth in Edinburgh. By 1632, it had become clear that the sharing of space between the three was inadequate, with Charles I demanding that Edinburgh Town Council provide a "suitable alternative". As a result, the town council proposed plans to create a new purpose-built parliament building which would also house the Court of Session on the same site, but faced difficulties in securing funds for the construction. The estimated cost was £11,630 sterling, or £127,000 Scots, the equivalent of £30 million by recent times. It was paid for by a number of subscriptions from Edinburgh residents, as well as a series of loans which "remained a burden on Edinburgh's finances for many years". The first meeting of the Parliament of Scotland to be held within the new Parliament House was held on 12 August 1639. Following the ratification of the Acts of Union which resulted in the Parliament of Scotland being subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain, the last meeting of the Parliament of Scotland occurred on 28 April 1707, leaving the Law Courts of Scotland as the sole occupier of Parliament House following the dissolution of the parliament. An extension was erected at Parliament House and opened in September 1992. Between 2007 and 2021, Parliament House was extensively refurbished at a cost of £5 million, including new offices, the inclusion of Judicial Training Suites, criminal courtrooms, accessible lifts and other fabric improvements. Located just off the Royal Mile, beside St Giles' Cathedral, Parliament House is also the headquarters of the Faculty of Advocates, the Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet, and the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland. Other buildings in the complex include the Advocates Library and the Signet Library. The entire complex is a Category A Listed building.
History In the 17th century, the Parliament of Scotland did not have a dedicated permanent home. Between 1438 and 1561, it had usually met in the Tolbooth in Edinburgh, a building which also housed the burgh council of Edinburgh and the Court of Session. From 1563 onwards Parliament regularly met in the chamber of the Court of Session, which was situated in the central aisle of St Giles' Cathedral. This chamber was becoming inadequate by the 1630s due to the increasing number of members of parliament. It was clear that Parliament required more suitable accommodation, there was a desire to restore St Giles’ solely to its original function as a place of worship, and Charles I requested that the burgh council provide a more commodious building. In March 1632, the council commissioned the building of a purpose-built parliamentary chamber, designed by James Murray, the King's Master of Works. The building cost £127,000 Scots, most of which came from Edinburgh's common good fund, with the remainder funded by public subscription from the citizens of Edinburgh.
Parliament of Scotland Parliament House was built between 1632 and 1640 on the west side of the sloping ground between St Giles’ Cathedral and the Cowgate which was occupied by the burial grounds of St Giles'. The burial grounds had ceased to be used for burials in 1566 (with the exception of the burial of John Knox in 1572). Three manses on the site which were occupied by the ministers of St Giles' were demolished to accommodate the new building. Although Parliament House was not completed until 1640 it hosted the 1639 session of Parliament, which opened on 12 August 1639. The building was built on an L-shaped plan, with the main block having three storeys, with the Parliament Hall and the Laigh Hall or Laigh House on the upper two storeys, and below these there was an undercroft. The two-storey south-east wing, known as the Treasury, contained chambers on each floor.
The facade, overlooking Parliament Yard (later Parliament Square), was of ashlar, while the remainder of the building was rubble-built with ashlar dressings. The principal entrance was surmounted by a pediment containing the Royal Arms of Scotland, between statues of Justice and Mercy, beneath which was the Latin inscription 'Stant His Felicia Regna' ("Kingdoms stand happy by these virtues"). The statues, which were the work of Alexander Mylne, were removed around 1824, when the entrance doorway was demolished. They were recovered in 1909 and now stand inside Parliament House. Parliament Hall, measuring 122 feet (40 m) by 49 feet (12 m), was used as the parliamentary chamber during sessions of parliament, and by the Court of Session when Parliament was not sitting. The main feature of Parliament Hall is the elaborate oak trussed flat roof supported on carved stone corbels. It was constructed in 1637 by John Scott, the Edinburgh master wright. In the 17th and 18th centuries the walls were hung with tapestries and portraits of Scottish monarchs. The stained glass Great Window, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach and Max Emanuel Ainmiller, was erected in 1868 and commemorates the establishment of the College of Justice by James V in 1532. James Howell visited Edinburgh in 1639 and wrote "there is a new Parliament House built here lately, and 'twas hoped his Majesty would have tane the maiden-head of it, and come hither to sit in person; and they did ill who advis'd him otherwise". Charles I became the first monarch to attend Parliament in the hall when he was present at the August-November 1641 session. The future monarchs James VII and Anne attended the 1681 session. Parliament Hall was also the venue for the parliamentary debates on the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England during the 1706-07 session.
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