Edinburgh Geographical Institute - geograph

Falcon Hall was a large mansion home in Morningside,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. It was built in 1780 by William Coulter, a wealthy

hosier Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as h ...

and

baillie A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables ...

who served as

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by City_of_Edinburgh_Council, the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the e ...

from 1808 until his death in 1810. Falcon Hall was set on between Newbattle Terrace and Canaan Lane. The property was acquired in the early 19th century by Alexander Falconar (d.1847), a merchant of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. Falconar added a neoclassical facade by the architect Thomas Hamilton, and renamed the house based on his name. Dr

John George Bartholomew John George Bartholomew (22 March 1860 – 14 April 1920) was a Scottish cartographer and geographer. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the P ...

, a co-founder of the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

and owner of the mapmaking company, John Bartholomew & Son Limited was a tenant of the house before 1908. The entrance to the property stood opposite to the old school. The pillars of the gateway were each surmounted by a falcon, one each side of the gates, painted in brown and gold. The gates were removed in 1874 and reassembled to form the entrance of

Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo, formerly the Scottish National Zoological Park, is an non-profit zoological park in the Corstorphine area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The land lies on the south facing slopes of Corstorphine Hill, from which it provides extensive v ...

Corstorphine Corstorphine (Scottish Gaelic: ''Crois Thoirfinn'') ( ) is an area of the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh. Formerly a separate village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, it is now a suburb of the city, having been formally incorporate ...

. The house was demolished in 1909, though the name Falcon was given to the streets later developed on the property. In 1911, when the firm John Bartholomew & Son Limited moved to new premises in Duncan Street, Edinburgh, the central portion of the Falcon Hall facade was re-erected on this new site as the

Edinburgh Geographical Institute The Edinburgh Geographical Institute was founded as a map publishers by famed Scottish geographer and cartographer John George Bartholomew in 1888. History Around 1826 John Bartholomew Sr. opened a firm dedicated to the production of maps cal ...

, where it remains today.

References

* ''The South Side Story, An Anthology of the South Side of Edinburgh'', W.F.Knox & Co. Ltd, Glasgow, undated. * Houses in Edinburgh Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Neoclassical architecture in Scotland Buildings and structures demolished in 1909 {{edinburgh-stub