Scotland The Georgian House, Edinburgh

Edinburgh New Town

The development of Edinburgh New Town was a pioneering architectural project between 1767 and around 1850, and the largest of its period anywhere in the world at that time.

Edinburgh old town had grown rapidly with buildings hemmed in by the protective town wall. It was a warren of teeming tenements, some with as many as eleven storeys. Prosperous families occupied the middle floors with the poor in the cellars or garrets. There were often 10-12 families living in the same building. Fire was a constant threat. Conditions were insanitary with raw sewage running in the streets.

By the early C18th overcrowding inside the walls of the Old Town had reached breaking point with around 70,000 people living in the old town. The collapse of part of one of the tenement buildings in 1751 led to a survey of the state of repair of other tenements in Edinburgh, resulting in a number of buildings having to be demolished.

In 1753 an Act of Parliament initiated the first of a series of Improvement Acts aimed at improving conditions

A competition was held in 1766 to find a suitably modern layout and to provide a city ‘fit to compare with London.’ It was won by James Craig who proposed a simple grid, with a principal thoroughfare to be named George Street, along the ridge with two garden squares at either end. These were for the benefit of the residents and each household paid an annual charge for the upkeep of the gardens in the square. There would be a parallel rod running on either side, linked by cross streets. Two other main roads were located downhill to the north and south with two minor streets between. Linked by cross streets.

A sewerage and water supply was provided but householders had to pay for them to be connected to their building. The land along the street frontages was divided into plots of ground which it then sold to private individuals or building firms on condition they stuck to Craig’s plan. There were strict limitations on the number of storeys and the height of the buildings It was intended to attract the upper and upper-middle class. The earth and rubble removed during building now forms The Mound, linking Old and New Town.

Robert Adam was commissioned to design the Charlotte Square in 1791. He was the most celebrated Scottish architect at that time with an international reputation. He was famous for his terraces designed to present a complete ‘palace front’ with no distinction between the individual buildings. His designs set the style for the rest of the layout of the New Town.

This in fact was one of his last designs as he died the following year. His brother James supervised most of the work after his death. By 1800, only two thirds of the north side had been built. The outbreak of the Napoleonic Wards with France and widespread fear of invasion put paid to further building and the square wasn’t completed until twenty years later.

The New Town was envisaged as a mainly residential area and was popular with the wealthy attracting lawyers, doctors, military men and colonial entrepreneurs to live there. By 1830, 5000 properties had been built and the population was around 40,000 living in 5000 houses.

The Edinburgh Academy was built to provide a classical education for boys. Assembly Rooms on George Street hosted balls, concerts and literary readings. The Registry Office was built to house Scotland’s public records.

It didn’t take long for the commercial potential of the New Town to be realised and shops soon opened along the length of Princes Street and by the C19th the majority of the town houses had been replaced by commercial buildings.

The building of the New Town contributed to the bankruptcy of Edinburgh Town Council in 1820. The Memorial to the dead of the Napoleonic Wars on Calton Hill stiller remains unfinished.

Charlotte Square was and is still one of the most prestigious sites in the New Town with terraces of Georgian houses surrounding the private gardens with a statue erected to commemorate the death of of Prince Albert.

7 Charlotte Square was bought by John Lamont in 1796 for £1,800 and the family lived here until 1817 when the house had to be sold to pay off family debts.

The final owners were the Bute Family and the 4th Marquess bought the house in 1927 to add to his earlier acquisitions of Numbers 5 and 6. He used his influence to get the other owners of properties on the North side of the square to restore the facade to be more in line with Adam's original design.

After the death of the 5th Marquess in 1956, the three properties were passed to the National Trust for Scotland in lieu of death duties. They have restored Number 7 much as it might have been when the Lamonts lived there.

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[Eleanor]

The house had five floors. The middle floors were used by the family. The top attic was used as a nursery and additional bedrooms. The basement was the servants quarters.

A flight of stone stairs leads to the front door and the lobby where guests were met by a servant before being taken up the main staircase to the family rooms above. The small ticket desk is here.

Second Floor

The tour begins on the second floor where there is a short video about the house and family life in it. The two rooms at the front of the house are used for temporary exhibitions. In September 2024 there was an exhibition about the C18th Scottish portrait painter Allan Ramsey which included examples of C18th ladies dresses.

First Floor

The speaking tube outside the Parlour door is a survival of a system originally used in affluent houses allowing communication between floors.

The main reception rooms were on the first floor. The Drawing Room was the grandest room in the house and overlooked the front, occupying the full width of the house. It is a typical Adams style room with a plaster frieze around the top of the walls and doors.

It was used to display the family’s wealth. Furniture was traditionally places round the walls leaving a large open space for dancing and also for the ladies to promenade and show off their clothes.
The square piano dates from 1805. Girls were expected to learn the piano and show off thier skills during social gatherings. (When I visited, there was a large table in the centre of the room which was being used to repair a bed hanging.)

The Parlour overlooks the back of the house and was the family sitting room. It was used for informal gatherings and particularly afternoon tea. This was an occasion of great ceremony and ritual with the hostess talking great pride in mixing the green and black leaves to produce exactly the blend of tea for her guests. Tea was taxed and the tea caddy was kept locked, Servants were allowed to use the spent leaves

The petit -point fire screen was designed to guard the face against the heat of the fire and so prevent the wax based make up worn by both men and women from melting.

Children also spent time with their parents here. Girls were taught the basics of reading and writing by their mother and were also taught needlework.

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[Eleanor]

Ground Floor

The Dining Room is at the front of the house. It was where the master of the house conducted his business as well as being used for lavish diner parties. All the courses were served at the same time and were arranged before the guest arrived. Covers would then be removed and food served. The soup tureen and the fish were placed on the table with the meat being served from the sideboard. When the main course was finished, the table cloth would be removed and the desert of fruit was left on the table.

In front of the fireplace is a plate warmer used to keep plates warm until everyone was ready to eat. On the table is what looks like a mini coffee pot. It is in fact an ‘Argyle’ an ingenious method invented by the 5th Duke of Argyll to keep his gravy hot. It contained a central compartment that could be filled with hot water. The spout poured from the bottom so preventing any fat from blocking the spout.

A short passageway connects the Dining Room with the Master Bedroom at the back of the house. This contains a portable water closet dating from about 1805. There was a hand filled water tank at the back and when flushed, the waste was collected into a copper basin below. This had to be emptied by the housemaid. The council made money by selling this as fertiliser to gentlemen farmers outside the city.

The Master Bedroom was at the back of the house and was also used as an informal breakfast room and sitting room by the lady of the house. This would have overlooked a garden with parkland beyond sloping down to the Water of Leith.

Basement

Stone stairs lead down to the Basement.

This was the domain of the many servants needed to run the house. Some may have lived in tenements in the Old Town or in mews lodgings in the New Town, others lived in small bedrooms in the basement.

In Georgian Edinburgh it was fashionable to employ a housekeeper who looked after household expenditure and supervised the housemaids. These girls were responsible cleaning, lighting fires, carrying water for the bedrooms, emptying chamber pots, making beds, repairing all the household linen....

The nurserymaid had responsibility for the children and slept on the third floor near the nursery.

The Cook was in charge of the kitchen and was responsible for buying all food and giving orders to the Kitchen and Scullery maids. These were usually the youngest and most poorly paid. They helped with food preparation, keeping the fires burning, cleaning up after the cook and clearing up after meals.

Steps at the front of the house led down to the basement, coal cellars and the tradesman’s entrance. The kitchen was at the back of the house and walls were traditionally painted blue as this colour was thought to keep flies away. Most of the cooking was carried out on a cast iron range. Rising heat turned the mechanical spit mechanism in the chimney. A meat screen could be pulled in front of the fire. Reflected heat helped meat cook more quickly and it could also be used for warming plates or keeping food warm.

Next to the range is the bread oven which was used for all baking. The inside was lime washed to make it easier to see the cooking items.

In the window is a charcoal stewing stove..

Pewter dishes and copper utensils lined with tin are displayed on shelves. These were cleaned using vinegar or lemon skins dipped in salt and silver sand.

By the door to the scullery is an enormous pestle and mortar.

The scullery is off the kitchen. This is a small and dark room with no external light. This has supply of pumped water to the sink, installed in 1819.

Earthenware dishes and other large items could be stored here.

The best china and silverware was kept in a locked cupboard in the passageway. Only the housekeeper had a key.

Across the passage way is the Butler’s pantry, which was a multipurpose room used as office, work area and bedroom.

Next to this is the wine cellar.

Other rooms would have provided extra storage and also sleeping areas for the servants.

The shop is now in one of the basement rooms.