A MOVE to transform a former department store in the Scottish capital into a hotel and restaurant has been approved.
The bid by ROK Hotels for the former RW Forsyth department store, more recently Topshop and Topman, involves the preservation and restoration of original features.
The application for the Princes Street site, which includes a study by CADA Design, was approved by City of Edinburgh Council planners.
The building on the corner of South St Andrew Street and Princes Street is designed by JJ Burnet, is a category A-listed, six storey, free-style Renaissance style, steel-framed, sandstone structure dating from 1906-07.
Background papers said interior is relatively intact, featuring alabaster columns at ground level and a platt stair, although suspended ceilings, partitions and raised floors were installed on the upper floors as part of a conversion in 2011 for use then as a Travelodge.
The listing includes a rear extension on Meuse Lane by Burnet, Son and Dick, dating from 1923-25, which was extended up by two storeys as part of the 2010 applications for conversion of the second to fifth floors of the whole building to a hotel.
The extension is connected to the main building by a bridge across Meuse Lane.
The building is currently vacant and was last in use as retail on the ground, basement and first floors of the original Burnet building and as a hotel in the other parts.
The application is for refurbishment and alterations to form a retail unit at ground and basement levels, a restaurant/cafe on the first floor and a hotel in the remainder of the building.
Council papers said: “The restoration of important elements of the original shopfront of this prominent historic building on a corner site and proposed external fixings and signage will preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the First New Town.”
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