Heriot Row, Royal Circus, Great King Street, Moray Place & other such addresses in Edinburgh New Town
| New Town Phase 2, Edinburgh |
Edinburgh New Town Phase One was designed by James Craig for Lord Drummond, Edinburgh, Scotland
Wemyss Place building - recently refurbished by Kenneth Reid Architects:
Wemyss Place building : photo © Adrian Welch 2006
India Street: steps up from Circus Place:
photo © Adrian Welch 2006
Heriot Row - looking east:
image © Adrian Welch 2006
New Town Phase II Buildings
The second phase of the New Town - Reid; Elliot; Playfair; Graham; Raeburn - was built between 1802 and around 1823, to the North and off the plateau. The architecture is more regular and influenced by the buildings of Robert Adam in Charlotte Square which created subtle order by grouping individual houses as 'palaces'. Anyone wishing to buy a plot there would have to live in a design by Adam, part of the whole ensemble - a great piece of neoclassical townscape.
Ainslie Place - looking west:
image © Adrian Welch 2008
The New Town is one of the greatest assemblies of Georgian architecture in Britain - others include Bath of course, and London which strongly influenced it. It is certainly the largest gathering of domestic neoclassical houses in the world.
Various proposals had been suggested and drawn up over the years but it was George Drummond's proposals that are generally agreed to be the major influence on the city expanding across the (Nor' Loch) valley to what were fields. A bridge (North Bridge, 1772) was proposed and the draining of the Nor' Loch. James Craig won the competition at the age of just 23 in 1766.
One of the finest elements is Moray Place on the Moray Estate:
no larger image of this, sorry; all the images below do have larger images linked however:
Moray Place, north-east quarter
Moray Place, south-east quarter
Heriot Row looking East
Typical New Town street & architecture - strong corner blocks
Royal Circus - townhouses subsumed into sweeping palace
St Stephen's Church by William Playfair
St Stephen's Church seen from Circus Lane
All photos above © adrian welch
Edinburgh New Town Phase I for reference:
James Craig (1744-95) famously won the competition to masterplan a New Town when only 22 years old in 1766; the New Town gradually absorbed much of the professional classes from the increasingly ramshackle Old Town. It was mostly built of sandstone from Craigleath Quarry. Princes Street (1805) is uninteresting despite its fame, but Charlotte Square and George Street (after George III) contain many good works.
Edinburgh New Town - all buildings, all phases
Scottish Architecture: best Scottish Buildings of the last three decades
New Town Phase 3 Development
Streets by William Henry Playfair 1789-1857:-
Blenheim Place, Brunswick Street, Brunton Place, Carlton Terrace, Elm Row, Hillside Crescent, Leopold Place, Montgomery Street, Regent Terrace, Royal Terrace, Windsor Street
Crescent in Phase Three
image © adrian welch 2006
Some modern buildings in the New Town:
New Town Phase 2: Moray Place
House by Richard Murphy:
Moray Place Edinburgh
New Town Phase 2: Fettes Row
Housing by Reiach and Hall + Oberlanders Architects:
Fettes Row terraces
New Town Phase 2: Circus Lane
Houses by Richard Murphy:
Circus Lane house
New Town Phase 2: Dean Bank
New Apartments by CDA Architects:
Eyre Place project for Applecross
New Town Phase 2: Dean Bank
Housing by Richard Murphy:
Dean Bank Lane
Edinburgh Buildings : back to index
The Glasite Meeting House, 33 Barony Street, EH3 6NX
1835-36
Alexander Black
Pulpit by David Bryce
Website: www.ahss.org.uk
The French Institute, 13 Randolph Crescent, EH3 7TT
-
Inhabited in 1839, acquired by French government in 1945
Website: www.ifecosse.org.uk
Danish Cultural Institute, 3 Doune Terrace, EH3 6DY
-
James Gillespie
Danish Cultural Institute since 1957
Georgian house with contemporary Danish design.
Website: www.dancult.co.uk
Edinburgh New Town Photos
Edinburgh Walking Tours
Buildings / photos for the Edinburgh New Town Architecture pages welcome:
info@edinburgharchitecture.co.uk
Edinburgh New Town Phase Two Buildings : page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt