Basil Spence was knighted for designing some of the worst buildings in our country.

Are you kidding? The circular stair and lift combo and all the details in the lobby are fabulously retro and stylish. Straight out of a 1960s Bond villain’s lair. I hope they are preserved as part of the conversion.

Once of the ugliest buildings in Edinburgh. A reminder that just because a famous architect designs something it doesn't have intrinsic merit.

#1 that eejit at #2 obviously doesn't have to use/live in these failures..

#1 - Basil Spence was knighted for designing some of the best buildings in our country, but like every other architect, some of his buildings are better than others. Coventry Cathedral, for example?

I have to say I’ve no love for this building whatsoever, every time I pass it, I just think what on earth were they thinking? Perhaps the internals can be kept but that façade is just awful.

Well, I think it is great example of mid-century Modernism with a facade like an understated and elegant Savile Row suit.

I didn’t even have to consult the list to know that but having now done so here is what the Statement of Special Interest says about it (with thanks to HES):

“The Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society acquired the relatively new premises of the Western Bank of Scotland at 9 St Andrew Square in 1859, and expanded into Nos 10 and 11 in the early 1930s. By 1956 they decided that they needed more accommodation and called in Basil Spence to design a new building for the site. This new head office was self-consciously built to harmonize with its neighbour the Guardian Royal Exchange, and is an understated but very sophisticated classical design in all respects. Only the finest materials were used (even on rear elevations), and the finishing throughout, internally and externally, is excellent. The principal entrance is a particularly successful piece of theatre, mirroring the treatment of 42 St Andrew Square which it faces, and the interior has survived much as Spence left it.”

And that is why it is ‘A’ listed...

This is an ugly, hulking brute of a building. Like so many (failed) modernist buildings it has a certain disdain for the pavement/street. Compare and contrast with the Capital Building (housing Amarone) next door, which was built circa 1940 and deals with the ground floor and corner (particularly) so much more successfully and elegantly. I agree with others here who have questioned the merits of listing.

#7 Hey what do I know, clearly HES and your good self-have an educated opinion which is fair enough. I’d bet good money that many people (the plebs) would agree with me that this building when viewed in context is by some distance the worst building in St Andrews Square.

Have to say that it is crap.
The lack of depth and detailing is criminal.
Cornflakes packets have more sophistication.