Queen Street is the northernmost east-west street in Edinburgh's First New Town. It begins in the east, at the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

. It links York Place with the

Moray Estate The Moray Estate in Edinburgh was an exclusive early 19th century building venture attaching the west side of Edinburgh's New Town. Built on an awkward and steeply sloping site, it has been described as a masterpiece of urban planning. Back ...

. It was named "Queen Street" after Queen

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

, the wife of

George III of the United Kingdom George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until Acts of Union 1800, the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was ...

and was so named on James Craig's plan of the New Town issued by the Town Council in 1768. Most early maps repeat this name but others misname it Queen's Street or Queens Street.

History

The street forms part of James Craig's plan of 1768 for a New Town to the north of

Edinburgh's Old Town The Old Town ( sco, Auld Toun) is the name popularly given to the oldest part of Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh. The area has preserved much of its medieval street plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Together with the 18th/19th-cent ...

and the North Loch. This had three main east-west streets: Princes Street; George Street; and Queen Street. Queen Street was planned as a one-sided street, facing north over then fields towards the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

. The first 30 metres beyond the road itself was originally laid out as private individual gardens to some of the Queen Street residents. Not until the opposite side was developed was there pressure to combine these gardens as a communal (but private) garden serving both Queen Street to the south and

Heriot Row Heriot Row is a highly prestigious street in central Edinburgh, virtually unchanged since its original construction in 1802. From its inception to the present day in remained a top address in the city and has housed the rich and famous of the cit ...

and Abercromby Place to the north. From 1840 this was known as Queen Street Gardens, which form part the collection of

New Town Gardens The New Town Gardens are a collection of around 30 mostly private gardens and parks within the Edinburgh New Town, Edinburgh, New Town Conservation area (United Kingdom), Conservation Area spread across the New Town and north of the West End, Edinb ...

. The street is planned as four terraces of equal length, originally all three storey and basement in form. Building began at the east end in 1769, one of the first being No 8 which was designed for Baron Orde by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

, completed in 1771. Feuing continued piecemeal and was complete by 1792.The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker The skew on the final two blocks at the west end (leading to North Charlotte Street and from there to

Charlotte Square 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square is located at the west end of George Street and was intend ...

) result from an unresolved feuing argument with Lord Moray, who later built the

on the land west of Queen Street. When

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

amalgamated with Edinburgh in 1920, the city gained a second Queen Street. This was renamed Shore Place in 1966.

Buildings of note

*1 -

*10 -

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

*28 -

Scotch Malt Whisky Society The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), founded in Edinburgh in 1983, is a membership organisation which bottles and sells single cask, single malt whisky. It purchases individual casks from more than 170 malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and ...

*43 - Former St Andrew's and St George's Church Halls, the streets only Gothic frontage * Yotel - on the site of

The Mary Erskine School The Mary Erskine School, popularly known as "Mary Erskine's" or "MES", is an all-girls independent secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1694 and has a roll of around 750 pupils. It is the sister school of the all-boys Stewa ...

Notable residents

* 2 - Patrick Wilson (architect) and his son Robert Wilson (demolished) * 2 -

John McLachlan (architect) John McLachlan (6 June 1843 – 13 May 1893) was a Scottish architect, based in Edinburgh operating in the late 19th century. He was a brother-in-law to Robert Morham. He has been described as a "minor master". Life He was born in Thornhil ...

(demolished) * 3 -

Patrick Dudgeon Patrick Dudgeon of Cargen FRSE DL (1817–1895) was a British landowner, mineralogist and meteorologist. He was co-founder with Matthew Forster Heddle of the Mineralogical Society in Great Britain in 1876. He had a specialist interest in mine ...

* 8 -

Robert Ord The Right Hon. Lord Robert Ord FRS MP (1700 – 12 February 1778) was a British lawyer and politician. Life Ord was born the son of John Ord, Under-Sheriff of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of Newbiggin, Fenham and Newminster, Northumberland, and his wi ...

(special commission by

) * 8 -

Robert Lee, Lord Lee Right Hon Robert Lee, Lord Lee FRSE (1 April 1830 – 11 October 1890) was a 19th-century Scottish law lord. Life Lee was born on 1 April 1830, one of seven children of Rev John Lee, then minister of Lady Yester's Church, at 131 Princes Stree ...

* 12 - Hugh Cameron RSA and George Hay RSA * 18 -

James Jardine (engineer) James Jardine (13 November 1776–20 June 1858) was a Scottish civil engineer, mathematician and geologist. He was the first person to determine mean sea level. He built tunnels and bridges, including for the Innocent Railway, and built reservo ...

* 21 - Alexander Keiller (physician) * 22 -

James Lorimer (advocate) James Lorimer of Kellyfield, FRSE LLD (4 November 1818 – 13 February 1890) was a Scottish advocate and professor of public law. He was an authority on international law. Life Lorimer was born in Aberdalgie House in Perthshire. He was t ...

* 22 -

William Bindon Blood William Bindon Blood (20 January 181731 January 1894) was an Irish civil engineer. Life He was born on the family estate in Cranagher,K. M. Phin Kenneth Macleay Phin (1816–1888) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1877. He ran the Church of Scotland’s Home Mission Scheme. As a church campaigner and pamphleteer he was ...

* 22 - Prof

Simon Somerville Laurie Simon Somerville Laurie FRSE LLD (13 November 1829 – 2 March 1909) was a Scottish educator. He became Bell Professor of Education at Edinburgh University in 1876. He campaigned energetically and successfully for better teacher training in Sc ...

* 22 - Rev

Aeneas Francon Williams Aeneas Francon Williams, FRSGS (17 February 1886 – 9 December 1971) was a Minister of the Church of Scotland, a Missionary, Chaplain, writer and a poet. Williams was a missionary in the Eastern Himalayas and China and writer of many publishe ...

and his family * 43 - Alexander Moody Stuart * 47 -

Charles Neaves, Lord Neaves Charles Neaves, Lord Neaves FRSE (14 October 1800 – 23 December 1876) was a Scottish advocate, judge, theologian and writer. He served as Solicitor General (1852), as a judge of the Court of Session, the supreme court of Scotland (1854), ...

* 48 -

Francis Brodie Imlach Francis Brodie Imlach FRCSEd (1819-1891) was a Scottish pioneer of modern dentistry, and the first person to use chloroform on a dental patient. He helped to raise the profile of dentistry from a back street trade to full professional stat ...

* 51 - James Miller (surgeon) * 51 -

Arthur Mitchell (physician) Sir Arthur Mitchell MD LLD (19 January 1826 – 12 October 1909) was a Scottish doctor involved in the study and care of patients with mental illness. He served on several public commissions, and wrote widely on history and anthropology. ...

* 51 -

John Sibbald Sir John Sibbald FRSE FBSE (24 June 1833 – 20 April 1905) was a 19th-century Scottish physician and amateur botanist. In 1855/56, aged 22, he served as president of the Royal Medical Society. Life He was born at 106 Lauriston Place, Edi ...

* 52 -

James Young Simpson Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anesthetic, anaesthetic properties of chloroform ...

* 52 -

Alexander Russell Simpson Sir Alexander Russell Simpson FRCPE FRSE LLD (20 April 1835–6 April1916) was a Scottish physician and Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. He invented the axis-traction forceps also known as the obstetrics forceps which ...

* 53 - James Dunsmure (physician) * 55 and 59 - Dionysius Wielobycki * 62 - Robert Frier artist * 64 - Robert Wemyss the

Earl of Wemyss and March Earl of Wemyss ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in ...

(special Commission) * 66 - General

Ralph Abercromby Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby (7 October 173428 March 1801) was a British people, British soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the British Army, was appointed Gov ...

(special commission) * 69 - Patrick Dalmahoy WS and his daughters * 73 -

John Henderson (architect) John Henderson (1 March 1804 – 27 June 1862) was a Scottish architect operational in the mid-19th century. He is chiefly remembered as a church architect, with his early work being in the Gothic revival and tractarian style, before develop ...

References

External links

* {{Streets and Squares in Edinburgh, state=collapsed New Town, Edinburgh Streets in Edinburgh