India Buildings, a Category A listed commercial block on Victoria Street in Edinburgh's Old Town, was completed in 1932 to designs by architects Sydney Mitchell and Wilson in a robust Scottish Renaissance style — sandstone facades articulated with arched window surrounds, carved heraldic detailing, and a streetline that holds its own against the medieval tenements climbing toward the castle. Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, which opened in 2021 after a substantial conversion by local practice 3DReid, pressed 222 rooms into this civic-scaled shell without obscuring the bones of what was already there. The interiors move between two registers that rarely clash. Guestrooms handled by Graven Images work in bleached oak panelling, tufted velvet headboards in oatmeal, and terrazzo nightstands, the plasterwork cornicing original to the building left fully intact above it all — a black-and-white photograph of Highland dancers providing the sole gesture toward Scottish identity, which feels precisely right. Downstairs the contrast sharpens: the whisky bar, Commons Club, keeps the original warm-toned timber panelling and a white marble fireplace, layering in burgundy leather bar stools, globe pendant clusters, and a rolling library ladder against bottle-lined shelves, while the restaurant takes a wholly different direction — exposed ducting, reclaimed brick-pattern flooring, teal velvet dining chairs, and terracotta bar millwork delivering something closer to a confident European brasserie than anything anchored to its postcode.

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