William Robertson Building

The William Robertson Building or «WRB» must be the hardest building in the university to navigate around. The signs may tell you to go one way, but its actually the complete opposite. I once asked a member of staff to help me find my location, and even she got lost!
The WRB offers rooms for tutorials, but I find that they aren’t as modern as some you will find in Appleton Tower.
In terms of appearance, it is like a mini Appleton Tower and is quite ugly when compared to the other buildings around the area and inside it has a feel of a hospital.
The lecture theatre inside feels much more like a traditional lecture hall than those you will find in Appleton Tower or the David Hume lecture theatres and has a real sense of character to it.

Named after the Scottish historian and previous rector of the University of Edinburgh, the William Robertson Building from its name sounds very grand indeed. However, sadly this is not the case.
Located in George Square, this building is another example of why universities were wrong to build so many buildings in the 1970s. Designers and architectures didn’t know what they were doing and caused lasting damage to places of beauty, like George Square.
If you get over the exterior, which actually does not look too bad in the photos, the building is home to the history department. It houses this department along with providing rooms for tutorials, small lectures and also provides a large lecture hall on the ground floor. The main lecture hall is moulded in the seventies fashion with dark mossy colours. Rows of green seats are accompanied by a dour sandy carpet along with rows of ageing wooden desks.
As a student at this university you will most likely walk by this building and indeed attend classes in it. And you might even be transported back into the 1970s!