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.
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
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.
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
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Inhabited in 1839, acquired by French government in 1945
Website: www.ifecosse.org.uk
Danish Cultural Institute, 3 Doune Terrace, EH3 6DY
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James Gillespie
Danish Cultural Institute since 1957
Georgian house with contemporary Danish design.
Website: www.dancult.co.uk
Buildings / photos for the Edinburgh New Town Architecture pages welcome:
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