St Andrew's House, headquarters of the Scottish Government, celebrates its 70th birthday on September 4, 2009.
Now a familiar Edinburgh landmark, it is important for a number of reasons as:
- the first time government departments serving Scotland were brought under the same roof in Edinburgh
- an outstanding monument to international architecture's Modern movement
- the largest metal-framed building in Europe in 1939
- taking decades to take shape and finally open its doors the day after war was declared
- still having the graves of ten murderers buried under the car park - relics from Calton Jail that formerly stood on the site