Greenside Parish Church opened for worship on the 6^th October 1839. The Greenside neighbourhood itself, sitting in the shadow of Calton Hill, has however had a far longer association with Christian buildings, as a Carmelite monastery was established here in the 13^th century.

In 1818, architect William Henry Playfair was appointed to draw up plans for what would become Regent, Royal and Carlton Terraces, three rows of fashionable townhouses hugging the southern slopes of Calton Hill. Allocated to the historic parish of St Cuthbert’s Church, at the west end of Princes Street, the local residents appealed to Edinburgh Presbytery and the Town Council for a church of their own. Both agreed and the Council agreed to fund their final “Burgh Church” to be built as part of the New Town expansion scheme.

Noted architect James Gillespie Graham, who had designed Liberton Kirk about three miles away from Greenside, was appointed to design the current Gothic T-plan church which was built 1837-39. Created with two narrow transepts, an entrance porch and session room above, the architect’s planned distinctive Gothic, three stage, square tower would not be built until twelve years later, when the Town Council agreed to part-fund its construction in 1851-52. Further significant work on the building was undertaken by the architect David Robertson in 1885.

Beneath the church was also located a series of rooms, entered from the neighbouring lower Greenside area of the city. Before the church was even completed, these halls were being used as a school for the poorer children of the working-class community in the adjacent neighbourhood. Operating on the “Madras System” developed by Scottish educationalist Dr Andrew Bell, small groups of older pupils were taught by a few teachers and these students would then teach larger groups of younger children.

In the century and a half that followed, the church became well-used by local groups and organisations. Renowned Local author Robert Louis Stevenson and his family knew the building well, calling it ‘the church on the hill’ a name that stuck. In recent decades, the church was well used as an Edinburgh Festival and Fringe venue, its sanctuary as a performance space and the rooms below for rehearsals and dressing rooms.

Its expansive sanctuary is lit by a series of lancet windows, many filled with beautiful Victorian and early 20th century stained glass. The magnificent pipe organ by Ingram & Co was installed in 1933, its standalone oak cased console in the body of the church and its expansive pipes on the arcaded gallery above. Plain wooden pews line the nave and transepts, many still with their original underseat racking to hold gentlemen’s top hats during services. A dais extends from the shallow chancel, with decorative Gothic panelling behind that matches the pulpit, chairs, lectern, communion table and organ console. The church also possessed two handsome brass eagle lecterns, a concert grade grand piano and a small harmonium.

During the course of its time as a church, six other local churches found their congregations (or successor congregations) eventually folded into that of Greenside (Elder St Mission, Guthrie Memorial, Abbey Church, Lady Glenorchy’s Free Church, St Mary’s Free Church, St James Place Relief Church). Many items from these churches found their way to Greenside, including war memorials, communion ware and furnishings.

Greenside Church held its final service in 2024, following its merger with St Andrew’s and St George’s Church (now New Town Church). It has since been closed, during a period of rationalisation of its nationwide property portfolio by the Church of Scotland with many of the church’s interior furnishings since sold at auction. As of June 2026, the church itself, and its neighbouring beadle’s cottage, have not yet been sold. Our church recording volunteers documented the potentially moveable items inside the church in September 2022 as part of the Historic Environment Scotland funded pilot phase of our Rapid Church Recording project.