Donaldson's School

Donaldson's School in Linlithgow is Scotland's national residential and day school, providing education, therapy and care for pupils who are deaf or who have communication difficulties. Donaldson's School was founded in 1851 and was housed in the Donaldson's Hospital Building in West Coates, Edinburgh. The school and building were paid for by Sir James Donaldson (1751–1830), who, for a time, was publisher of the Edinburgh Advertiser. The original benefaction was that there should be 200 boys and 200 girls and allowed for special bursaries for poor children. Not all were deaf, although applications on behalf of deaf children were encouraged. From 1938, pupils were exclusively deaf. This benefaction was similar in style to the benefaction of George Watson, who founded and supported other schools in Edinburgh. In 1938, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Dumb, Edinburgh was merged into Donaldson's School. The Royal Institute for Deaf and Dumb had been founded in 1824 and had been located in Henderson Row, Edinburgh (in a building designed by the architect James Gillespie Graham) and the building then became part of Edinburgh Academy. The 1851 A-listed Donaldson's Hospital building in Edinburgh was designed by architect William Henry Playfair in the Jacobethan inspired by Elizabethan manor houses. The building is built round a quadrangle in Tudor architecture style with large corner towers which themselves are each made up of four smaller towers. Queen Victoria opened the building in 1850 and is reputed to have said that the building was more impressive than many of her own palaces. After more than 150 years based in the Playfair building, Donaldson's finally concluded that the building was no longer fit for purpose. Many of the rooms were no longer in use, classrooms were unable to use the latest educational technology and the Trust could no longer afford to maintain the building. In 2003 the school's building was put up for sale and was purchased by Scottish property developer Cala Homes for £22 million although the school continued to have use of the building until they moved out in 2008.