Capital's modern buildings making the list

• George Square Theatre is one of the buildings to make the grade

FOR many Edinburgh residents the concrete and glass facades rising above the shopfronts on Princes Street, or the 20th century university buildings dominating the 18th century terraced houses of George Square, are a cause for regret over what could have been saved.

But a new book celebrates Edinburgh's post-war architecture, documenting the modern listed buildings in the city that sit – sometimes uncomfortably – with the historic architecture of the Old Town and New Towns, or the stately Greek revival character of the "Athens of the North".

The Forth Road Bridge, the Scottish Widows head office building and the Royal Botanic Garden Greenhouse are all featured in the book, published by Edinburgh City Council and Historic Scotland, the first of its kind for a Scottish city. The city is home to 55 post-war listed buildings, more than a quarter of the 200 in Scotland.

Traditionalists may cringe at some of the structures now rated worthy of listed status. But the architect Malcolm Fraser, designer of award-winning buildings like the city's Dance Base, says: "I just cheered when I saw the publication, because it's really confirmation that we have set aside our prejudices.

"Here is proof that the 1960s produced absolutely wonderful architecture in Edinburgh by architects who cared about history and the integrity of Edinburgh, but were also filled with an optimism about the future."

Fraser's father, the structural engineer Bill Fraser, who died this month, worked on several of the listed buildings, from the Mortonhall Crematorium to Edinburgh University's Pollock Halls of Residence. Fraser remembered walking as a child into the Royal Commonwealth Pool, another of the listed buildings, and "being absolutely bowled over by the extroardinary qualities of light and space."

It may still come as a surprise to the uninitiated that buildings like the British Home Stores on Princes Street – or the store for Her Majesty's Stationary Office, on the Sighthill Industrial Estate, opened in 1950, are considered modern greats.

The book, titled simply Edinburgh's Post-War Listed Buildings, is available in printed form or for download from Historic Scotland's website, www.historic-scotland.gov.uk. It features all seven listed buildings by Sir Basil Spence, one of the most prolific designers of his generation.

"Post-war buildings can provoke a number of different reactions," says Deborah Mays, director of policy and outreach for Historic Scotland, "but historic buildings need to reflect all aspects of life, and these buildings are a key embodiment of our recent social and economic past."

MAKING THE GRADE

Greenhouse, Royal Botanic Garden

THE design of architect GAH Pearce's A-listed greenhouse, built in 1967, may not linger in visitors' minds in the same way as the Royal Botanic Garden's classic 19th century Palm Houses. But its innovative design was due to the garden's then curator, Dr EE Kemp, insisting that the supporting structure was kept entirely on the outside of the greenhouse, allowing the maximum amount of light to reach inside. It created "a totally unimpeded interior space," according to the book, Edinburgh's Post-War Listed Buildings, by Jack Gillon, of the City of Edinburgh Council, and Dawn McDowell, of Historic Scotland. Pearce's design was considered a modern milestone for glasshouse construction.

The British Homes Stores building, Princes Street

THIS building, designed by the RMJM partnership, was the first flagship store for the BHS chain in Scotland. Built between 1964-68, it has four storeys and a basement, and the B-listed structure is described in the book as "bespoke 1960s modern design for the latest development in retailing." It was one of the first "panel buildings" in the redevelopment of Princes Street, which included a first-floor walkway to run the length of the street. This, however, was never completed. The building was meant as "an integral component of the existing streetscape," to be viewed from many vantage points in the city, including Edinburgh Castle.

The Telephone Exchange, Fountainbridge

THE exchange is a four-storey, flat-roofed building formed by the meeting of rectangular and bow-end blocks in polished cream sandstone ashlar, with large steel-framed windows. Stewart Sim, who designed the B-listed building, was senior architect to the Ministry of Works in Scotland at the time. "The architect has expressed in a modern way both the function of the building, itself a modern service, and the dignity of a government undertaking," commented The Builder, the architects' journal, in 1952.

George Square Theatre

THIS is one of three B-listed buildings erected by the University of Edinburgh at George Square in the mid 1960s. The furious reaction to the "cultural vandalism" of Georgian Edinburgh was a founding moment for the city's conservation movement. But the theatre, designed by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and partners – RMJM – founded in 1956, are described as "key monuments" both for Scottish Modernism and post-war aspirations for higher education.

Mortonhall Crematorium

THE A-listed Mortonhall Crematorium, in Howdenhall Road, with its remembrance chapel and lodge houses, is billed as 1960s Edinburgh's most iconic post-war buildings. Designed by Sir Basil Spence, it is compared to the work of the French architect Le Corbusier in its "theatrical use of wall-planes and shafted light," and to Spence's own designs for Coventry Cathedral. The crematorium was built with "dramatic angular shapes" of white concrete blocks. Simple white painted interiors "act as a perfect foil for the reflection of multi-coloured glass."

Forth Road Bridge

THE Forth Road Bridge, with its approach ramps and piers, was commissioned in 1947 and built between 1958-64. Critics may wonder why it has appeared to lack the staying power of the 19th century Forth Rail Bridge, but it has an A-category listing. It is called "a landmark structure for post-war Scotland…the first spun-cable suspension bridge to challenge American designs of the period." With a total span of 2,828 metres, it was on completion the longest suspension bridge outside America, boasting "an elegance deriving from the lightweight appearance of its slender construction components."

Shelters, West Princes Street Gardens

THE series of three low south-facing shelters on a terrace built into the slope of Princes Street in 1950, designed by architect Alexander Garden Forgie, hardly stand out as a soaring icon of Edinburgh's urban landscape. But they are described as "a prominent feature" in the city's central gardens. The B-listed shelters are constructed in reinforced concrete, brick, and ashlar, with timber bars on unglazed windows. They are described in the book as "representative of the post-war modernisation of one of Scotland's most prominent public spaces." The nearby Royal Scots Memorial, built in the West Princes Street Gardens in the same year, with a semi-circle of stone monoliths laid out like a sundial, to commemorate campaigns fought by the regiment over three centuries, is also B-listed.