Parliament House, Edinburgh

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 Gordon of Rothiemay in 1649, 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 build 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 pound sterling, or £127,000 in Pound 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".

The first meeting of the Parliament of Scotland to be held within the new Parliament House was held on 12 August 1639. Following the ratification of the Acts of Union which resulted in the Parliament of Scotland being subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain, the last meeting of the Parliament of Scotland occurred on 28 April 1707, leaving the Law Courts of Scotland as the sole occupier of Parliament House following the dissolution of the parliament. An extension was erected at Parliament House and opened in September 1992. Between 2007 and 2021, Parliament House was extensively refurbished at a cost of £5 million, including new offices, the inclusion of Judicial Training Suites, criminal courtrooms, DDA lifts and other fabric improvements.

Located just off the Royal Mile, beside St Giles' Cathedral, Parliament House is also the headquarters of the Faculty of Advocates, the Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet, and the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland. Other buildings in the complex include the Advocates Library and the Signet Library. The entire complex is a Category A Listed building.