Mark McLaughlin: Did we build them up to knock them down?

EDINBURGH regularly tops the polls in being named Britain's most beautiful place to visit - not bad for a city supposedly replete with "ghastly, brutalist and shameful Eastern European monstrosities and third-rate commercial developments".

During a debate on the Historic Environment Scotland Bill, Lothians MSP Ian McKee railed against the "gross crimes against Edinburgh's historic environment that have been committed in the capital city since the middle of the 20th century".

It's fair to say that VisitScotland won't be including Dr McKee's comments in its next brochure, but was he being entirely fair about the buildings he so despises?

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Is Appleton Tower really "ghastly"? Does Potterow have "the ambience of a deserted factory site"? And was it really fair to call the former Scottish Parliament offices on George IV Bridge "an Eastern European monstrosity"?

'THIRD-RATE'

PRINCES STREET

The heart of the Capital and its most famous shopping street, Princes Street has long had its detractors, though complaints mainly centre on the shops on offer rather than the buildings themselves. While some experts said they agreed "100 per cent" with Dr McKee, Kenneth Ralston, president of the Edinburgh Architectural Association, said: "In their time there was much correspondence in the local press about the outrages the Victorians were perpetrating on the Georgian buildings in Princes Street. How does he know that the 'third-rate commercial developments' he abhors will not become much loved in a hundred years' time? The Victorians were building on Princes Street just as much for profit as developers are today."

'SHAMEFUL'

ST JAMES CENTRE (1964)

Dr McKee suggested that the St James Centre had destroyed the "18th century delight" of the old St James Square. Architect Adrian Welch couldn't entirely agree, but admitted the St James Centre - itself set to be demolished to make way for a new development - was far from attractive. "While I never saw St James Square, I think it's a given that you don't get rid of a classic town square and replace it with a monstrous shopping centre, and the sooner they get rid of it the better. The new plans look like an improvement but it's hard to say for sure until it's built, and like the Hotel Missoni, it remains to be seen whether they will stand the test of time."

'UNFIT FOR PURPOSE'

COMMONWEALTH POOL (1970)

Due to reopen in 2012 following a 37.1 million refurbishment, it is perhaps a bit hasty to call the Commonwealth Pool "unfit for purpose".

Architect Adrian Welch said: "While Dr McKee does have a point about the suitability of the Commonwealth Pool for international competitions, from an architectural point of view it's a great building, very elegant, and deserves to be protected. Perhaps the Scottish Government could build a new international-standard swimming facility somewhere else."

'EASTERN EUROPEAN MONSTROSITY'

ON GEORGE IV BRIDGE (1968 - 2009)

Not many people were fans of the old building on the Lawnmarket, demolished to make way for the Hotel Missoni.

Edinburgh College of Art reader Miles Glendinning, however, said: "I actually preferred the old building to what's there now. The Missoni is a busier design with lots of fiddly little features. It was architect Robert Matthew's last building and I thought it was a lot cleaner. Its design complemented the classical architecture of George IV Bridge on one side and the medieval architecture of the Mile on the other."

'DESERTED FACTORY SITE'

AT POTTERROW (1973-2008)

While it divides opinion, many felt that the Potterrow site was "quite good looking" and certainly not as bad as some of the other buildings which have been developed in the Capital.

The Potterrow development was even named Scottish Building Project of the Year 2009 by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Kenneth Ralston, president of the Edinburgh Architectural Association, said: "Even architects have their likes and dislikes in modern and traditional buildings. While the Appleton Tower is held in mixed regard, I can't see how he feels Potterrow has 'the ambience of a deserted factory site'. It is a vibrant area of the city, energised by the university's new Informatics building."

'GHASTLY'

APPLETON TOWER

"I think a word like 'ghastly' is totally inappropriate," said Edinburgh College of Art reader Miles Glendinning, a critic of contemporary modernism and author of Architecture's Evil Empire.

"It's not an attractive building but buildings like the Appleton Tower were a product of the welfare state of the 1960s."

Adrian Welch, architect and director of the edinburgharchitecture.co.uk website, said: "I would happily see Appleton Tower demolished."