Parliament House, Edinburgh

About

Parliament House (Scottish Gaelic: Taigh na Pàrlamaid), located in the Old Town in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a historic parliament and court building containing several buildings which now houses the Supreme Courts of Scotland, the Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. The oldest part of the complex, known as Parliament Hall, was home to the Parliament of Scotland from 1639 to 1707, and was the world's first purpose-built parliament building. The complex is spread across seven floors, and contains 700 rooms, with the original building first designed and built by James Murray and completed in 1639, costing £10,555 which was paid for by Edinburgh Town Council.

Prior to the construction of Parliament House, the Parliament of Scotland, the Court of Session and the Privy Council of Scotland all shared the same building which was located in the Tolbooth in Edinburgh. By 1632, it had become clear that the sharing of space between the three was inadequate, with Charles I demanding that Edinburgh Town Council provide a "suitable alternative". As a result, the town council proposed plans to create a new purpose-built parliament building which would also house the Court of Session on the same site, but faced difficulties in securing funds for the construction. The estimated cost was £11,630 sterling, or £127,000 Scots, the equivalent of £30 million by recent times. It was paid for by a number of subscriptions from Edinburgh residents, as well as a series of loans which "remained a burden on Edinburgh's finances for many years".