Everything about New Town Edinburgh totally explained
The
New Town, a central area of
Edinburgh, the capital of
Scotland, is often considered to be a masterpiece of city planning, and is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although still referred to as the New Town, it was built in stages between
1765 and around
1850, and retains much of the original
neo-classical period architecture.
Its most famous street is
Princes Street, facing
Edinburgh Castle and the
Old Town across the geographical depression of the former
Nor Loch. The Old and New Towns were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
Preparing the ground
The decision to construct a New Town was taken by the city fathers, after overcrowding inside the Old Town city walls reached breaking point. The
Age of Enlightenment had arrived in Edinburgh, and the outdated city fabric didn't suit the modern thinkers who lived there.
Lord Provost George Drummond succeeded in extending the boundary of the
Royal Burgh to encompass the fields to the north of the Nor Loch, the heavily polluted water body which occupied the valley immediately north of the city. A scheme to drain the Loch was put in to action, although the process wasn't fully completed until 1817. Crossing points were built to access the new land; the North Bridge in 1772, and the Earthen Mound, which began as a tip for material excavated during construction of the New Town.
The Mound, as it's known today, reached its present proportions in the 1830s.
As the successive stages of the New Town were developed, the rich moved northwards from cramped tenements in narrow closes into grand
Georgian homes on wide roads. However, the poor remained in the Old Town.
The First New Town
A design competition was held in January 1766 to find a suitably modern layout for the new suburb. It was won by 22 year old
James Craig, who proposed a simple grid, with a principal thoroughfare along the ridge linking two garden squares. Two other main roads were located downhill to the north and south, with two meuse (mews) providing stable lanes for the large homes. Completing the grid are three north-south streets.
Street names
The principal street was named George Street, after the king at the time,
George III. Queen Street was to be located to the north, named for his wife and St. Giles Street to the south, after the patron saint of the city. St. Andrew's Square and St. George's Square were the names chosen to represent the union of Scotland and England. The idea was continued with the smaller Thistle Street (for Scotland's emblem) between George Street and Queen Street, and Rose Street (for England's emblem) between George Street and Princes Street.
However, King George rejected the name St. Giles Street and it was renamed
Princes Street after his sons. The name of St. George's Square was changed to Charlotte Square, after
the Queen, to avoid confusion with George Square on the South Side. The westernmost blocks of Thistle Street were renamed to Hill Street and Young Street, making 'Scotland's' street half the length of 'England's'. The three streets completing the grid, Castle, Frederick and Hanover Streets, are named for the views of the castle,
the father of King George and the royal family name respectively.
Development
Craig's proposals hit further problems when development began. Initially the exposed new site was unpopular, leading to a £20 premium being offered to the first builder on site. Doubts were overcome soon enough, and construction started in the east with St. Andrew Square.
Craig had proposed that George Street be terminated by two large churches, situated within each square. However, Sir
Lawrence Dundas was already the landowner of this space. He decided to build his own home here, and commissioned a design from Sir
William Chambers. The resulting
Palladian mansion, completed in 1774, is now the headquarters of the
Royal Bank of Scotland.
St. Andrew's Church had to be built on a site on George Street. The lack of a visual termination at the end of this street was remedied in 1823 with
William Burn's monument to
Henry Dundas.
The first New Town was completed in 1800, with the construction of Charlotte Square. This was built to a design by
Robert Adam, and was the only architecturally unified section of the New Town. Adam also produced a design for St. George's Church, although his design was superseded by that of
Robert Reid. The building, now known as West Register House, now houses part of the
National Archives of Scotland. The North side of Charlotte Square features
Bute House - formally the official residence of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Since the introduction of devolution in Scotland,
Bute House is the official residence of the
First Minister of Scotland.
Redevelopment
The New Town was envisaged as a purely residential suburb. Townhouses interspersed with blocks of apartments (called tenements in Scotland) lined all of the main streets, with the meuse being mostly apartments for the service classes - dancing masters, wig makers and so on. However, it didn't take long for the commercial potential of the site to be realised. Shops were soon opened on Princes Street, and during the 19th century the majority of the townhouses on that street were replaced with larger commercial buildings. Occasional piecemeal redevelopment continues to this day, though of New Town 1, Queen Street, Thistle Street, and large sections of George Street, Hanover, Frederick and Castle Streets, are still lined with their original late 18th century buildings. Very large sections of New Town 2, building from the early 1800s are also still as built.
Later additions
After 1800, the success of the first New Town led to grander schemes. The second, or 'New New Town', aimed to extend Edinburgh all the way to the
Water of Leith, linking the city with the older villages of
Stockbridge,
Dean,
Canonmills, and
Silvermills. Development was more unified, although for several decades the operations of the tannery at Silvermills inhibited development in the immediate vicinity. The new developments followed the pattern of Charlotte Square, with entire streets being built as one construction. To the north of Queen Street lay Queen Street Gardens; beyond the gardens, building continued on an extended Hanover Street, here named Dundas Street, almost 1 km to the Water of Leith at Canonmills. Broad streets and grand squares were laid out to either side.
The third and final major development added Moray Place and surrounding streets, built on the lands of the
Earl of Moray, west of the second development.
Culture
The New Town is home to the
National Gallery of Scotland and the
Royal Scottish Academy, located on The Mound. The
Scottish National Portrait Gallery is on Queen Street. Other notable buildings include the Assembly Rooms on George Street, the
Balmoral Hotel (formerly called the
North British Hotel, after a railway company) with its landmark clock tower above
Waverley Station, and the
Scott Monument.
Shopping
The New Town contains Edinburgh's main shopping streets. Princes Street is home to many chain shops, as well as
Jenners department store, an Edinburgh institution. George Street, once the financial centre, now has numerous modern bars, many occupying former banking halls, while the new Multrees Walk on St. Andrew's Square is home to
Harvey Nichols and other designer shops. The
St. James Centre, at the east end of the New Town, is an indoor mall completed in 1970. It includes a large branch of
John Lewis, designed by Sir
Basil Spence. It is often considered an unwelcome addition to New Town architecture.
Further Information
Get more info on 'New Town Edinburgh'.
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