Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
George Street
Running parallel to Princes Street, George Street was designed to be the centrepiece of
the First New Town, joining two grand squares (St Andrew Square and Charlotte
Square). hese days, the street is rapidly changing its role from a thoroughfare of
august financial institutions to a highbrow version of Princes Street, where the big deals
are done in designer-label shops.
1
St Andrew Square
Lying at the eastern end of George Street is the smartly landscaped St Andrew Square ,
whose centre is marked by the Melville Monument , a towering column topped by a
statue of Lord Melville, Pitt the Younger's Navy Treasurer. Around the edge of the square
you'll find Edinburgh's bus station, the city's swankiest shopping arcade, Multrees Walk,
and a handsome eighteenth-century town mansion, designed by Sir William Chambers.
Still the ceremonial headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland, the palatial
mid-nineteenth-century banking hall is a symbol of the success of the New Town.
Charlotte Square
At the western end of George Street is Charlotte Square , designed by Robert Adam in
1791, a year before his death. For the most part, his plans were faithfully implemented,
an exception being the domed and porticoed church of St George, simplified on
grounds of expense. Generally regarded as the epitome of the New Town's elegant
simplicity, the square was once the most exclusive residential address in Edinburgh, and
though much of it is now occupied by o ces, the imperious dignity of the architecture
is still clear to see. Indeed, the north side, the finest of Adam's designs, is once again the
city's premier address, with the o cial residence of the First Minister of the Scottish
Government at no. 6 (Bute House), the Edinburgh equivalent of 10 Downing Street.
In August each year the gardens in the centre of the square are colonized by the
temporary tents of the Edinburgh Book Festival (see p.103).
Georgian House
7 Charlotte Square • Daily: March 11am-4pm; April-June, Sept & Oct 10am-5pm; July & Aug 10am-6pm; Nov 11am-3pm; • £6.50; NTS
T 0844 493 2118, W nts.org.uk
Restored by the National Trust for Scotland, the interior of this residential townhouse
provides a revealing sense of well-to-do New Town living in the early nineteenth
century. hough a little stuffy and lifeless, the rooms are impressively decked out in
period furniture - look for the working barrel organ which plays a selection of Scottish
airs - and hung with fine paintings , including portraits by Ramsay and Raeburn,
seventeenth-century Dutch cabinet pictures and the beautiful Marriage of the Virgin by
El Greco's teacher, the Italian miniaturist Giulio Clovio. In the basement you can see
the original wine cellar, lined with roughly made bins, and a kitchen complete with an
open fire for roasting and a separate oven for baking; video reconstructions of life
below and above stairs are shown in a nearby room.
Queen Street
Queen Street , the last of the three main streets of the New Town's first phase, is
bordered to the north by private gardens, and commands sweeping views across to Fife.
he best preserved of the area's three main streets, it's occupied mostly by o ces and
has few individual attractions, with the exception of the Scottish National Portrait
Gallery at its eastern end, just to the north of St Andrew Square.
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen St • Daily 10am-5pm (until 6pm in Aug, and until 7pm Thurs year round ) • Free • T 0131 624 6200, W nationalgalleries.org
Housed in a fantastic Gothic Revivalist palace in red sandstone, the Scottish
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search