The foundation stone was laid on 13 February 1858 in a formal ceremony attended by the Principal and Professors of the University and the Lord Provost and Magistrates of the Town Council:

On Saturday at noon the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the New Music Class-Room, in connection with the College, was performed under the auspices of the Magistrates and Council, and the Senatus Academicus of the University […] After prayer, by Professor Kelland, a square cavity was prepared, and in it was deposited a small box containing, among other things, a duplicate of General Reid’s will, a duplicate of his march, “Garb of Old Gaul,” a list of the Professors, a number of current coins, and a copy of the Edinburgh Almanack for 1858. The Lord Provost then stooped and applied the square, the trowel and other masonic implements, with much grace, and the stone was lowered and adjusted to its place. The trowel was elegantly wrought in silver, being prepared for the occasion and on its face, was inscribed the following words:– “Presented to the Right. Hon. John Melville, Provost of Edinburgh, by whom the foundation stone of the building to be appropriated for the uses of the Chair of the Theory of Music in the University, instituted and endowed under the will of General John Reid, was laid on the 13^th day of Feb. 1858”.[1]

[1] Edinburgh Evening Courant 16 February 1858.

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