Modern Two

The building was a replacement for the Orphan Hospital, built 1734 on ground owned by Trinity College Kirk on Leith Wynd in the valley between the High Street and Calton Hill, the building held 100 children aged from 7 to 14 years in age and was demolished to make way for the construction of Waverley Station.[1]

The grand style of the building has been attributed to James Bonar WS. He was an elder at Lady Glenorchy's Church which stood in the grounds of the original orphanage. When the idea of a new railway station in Edinburgh, requiring the demolition of both the orphanage and the church, arose in the early 1830s, he contrived a plan, along with his church patron, Lady Glenorchy, to combine her funds with the compensation from the railway company (ensured in an Act of 1836) to build a very generous new orphanage in the clean country air, west of the city. The Lord Provost, John Learmonth, was pulled into the idea around 1833, and he agreed to gift the land required for the project. He was however partially using this philanthropic gesture as a carrot to his fellow town councillors to allow development of the remaining land for housing (the area now known as Learmonth). Bonar appears to have also provided funds himself, either on a permanent basis, or as a bridge while awaiting the railway compensation. The result was a building costing at least double what the original expected budget was. This allowed for a truly well-built building in dressed ashlar sandstone, with two feature bellcotes.[2]

The building, known as the Dean Orphanage, was designed by Thomas Hamilton in 1831 and took three years to build. Built in Craigleith stone from the nearby quarry, it is in English Baroque style with classical detail. The towers over the staircases contain chimneys and contribute to the Edinburgh skyline in the west of the city centre. The clock above the entrance comes from the original Orphan Hospital and in turn from the 1764 demolition of the Netherbow Port on the High Street, which formerly separated the High Street from the Canongate.[3]

The building, which is owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, served as the Dean Education Centre for many decades before conversion to a gallery.

The plot of allotment gardens at the main entrance dates from 1940 when many school grounds were used for such purposes.

Modern Two houses the Paolozzi Gift, a collection of works by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, given by the artist to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1994. The gallery also contains a large collection of Dada and Surrealist art and literature, much of which was given by Gabrielle Keiller. Modern Two also houses temporary exhibitions.[5]

Modern Two is surrounded by a sculpture garden with a number of modern and avant-garde works on display, including Gate (1972) by William Turnbull, Two Lines up Excentric VI (1977) by George Rickey, La Vierge d'Alsace (1919–1921) by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, There will be no Miracles Here (2007–2009) by Nathan Coley, Master of the Universe (1989) by Eduardo Paolozzi, Two Two-Way Mirrored Parallelograms Joined with One Side Balanced Spiral Welded Mesh (1996) by Dan Graham, Macduff Circle (2002) by Richard Long, and Escaped Animals (2002) by Julian Opie.[6]

• Selected works at Modern 2
• 
  Master of the Universe (1989) by Eduardo Paolozzi
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  Vulcan (1989) by Eduardo Paolozzi in the Gallery's Great Hall
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  Recreation of Eduardo Paolozzi's studio
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  La Vierge d'Alsace (1919–1921) by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle
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  There will be no Miracles Here (2007–2009) by Nathan Coley

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two.

• Official National Galleries Scotland web page