Royal Terrace is a grand street in the city of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, on the north side of

Calton Hill Calton Hill (; ) is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and f ...

within the

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

and part of the

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

inscribed in 1995, built on the south side of a setted street, facing the sloping banks of London Road Gardens, formerly Royal Terrace Gardens, with views looking north towards

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

and the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

Showpiece of the Eastern New Town

William Henry Playfair William Henry Playfair Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and many of Edinb ...

designed Royal Terrace between 1820 and 1824. Together with the adjoining Carlton and Regent Terraces, the three streets are in a continuous line, cut only by Carlton Terrace Lane giving access to

mews A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...

, leading around the eastern end of Calton Hill and surrounding Regent Gardens, the largest of the private gardens of the New Town. These streets, with Royal Terrace the grandest, were the showpiece of Playfair's conception for the Eastern New Town, intended to be grander than James Craig's original development.Youngson, A.J. (2001): "The Companion Guide to Edinburgh and the borders", Chapter 9 (Calton Hill), Polygon Books, Edinburgh, UK, The streets were named in connection with the visit to Edinburgh of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

in 1822 . The extension was projected to reach from Calton Hill down towards Leith, although ultimately very little of the northern section was ever built.Report on The New Town Conservation Area by Edinburgh Town Council

Architecture

Royal Terrace is in the form of an extended, 121-bay 'palace front' of classical 3-bay (and one 4-bay) townhouses.Listed building information for 1 and 2 Royal Terrace, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 10 February 2018
/ref> Playfair's original drawings are held by

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

, including plans for the whole facade as well as individual sections. The houses are now all category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. The design of the townhouses is unlike those in neighbouring streets. Door entrances and windows on the ground floor are arched and surrounded by V-chamfered rusticated stone work. Ten of the houses still have their original

fanlights A fanlight is a form of lunette window ( transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sec ...

. The upper floors throughout are of polished

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone with basements of droved ashlar. The houses are of two or three storeys with attics to the colonnaded sections.Listed building information for 3 Royal Terrace, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 24 February 2018
/ref>Listed building information for 4 Royal Terrace, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 24 February 2018
/ref> The long symmetrical facade alternates between colonnaded and un-colonnaded sections, from east to west, as follows: Royalterracepano1

Construction

Playfair hoped to attract "fashionable and wealthy people" to Calton Hill,Youngson, A.J. (1966): "The Making of Classical Edinburgh", pp. 155-156, Edinburgh University Press, but almost immediately he encountered competition from new developments to the western end of the New Town, in particular the Moray Estate. In contrast to Regent and Carlton Terraces, which were rapidly completed in the 1830s, the building in Royal Terrace stretched over 40 years. The first house to be completed was number 40 at the east end of the terrace, which was built in 1821–1822, and this was followed by the sections containing numbers 4 to 14, 23 to 29 and 35 to 39, which were all finished between 1823 and the early 1830s. The gaps in the facade were not filled until the 1850s and 1860s. The section from 31 to 34 dates from around 1854 to 1859. Numbers 1 and 2 were built in 1857, and number 3 in 1859. The section from 16 to 22 was built in the early 1860s, with number 15 also dating from that decade.

Length and 'Whisky row'

Royal Terrace is a continuous straight structure of about 360 metres, reputedly the longest Georgian terrace in Europe. It is 30 metres longer than the Royal York Crescent (1791–1820) in

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The easter ...

. The Moray Estate claim a single built-up environment of nearly 600 metres, but unlike Royal Terrace, this is a series of unbroken streets rather than a single entity. Royal Terrace was known in Edinburgh as 'Whisky Row', supposedly because merchants living there had an unobstructed view of their ships coming into Leith Harbour. In fact, some wine merchants did come to live in the terrace, including John Crabbie (1806–1891), founder of John Crabbie & Company, responsible for Crabbie's Ginger Wine, who lived in number 22 from 1861 to 1891.

Former residents

Listed by address

*1 - John Colquhoun (1805–1885) sportsman and sportswriter and Sir Alan John Colquhoun *1 - Lucy Bethia Walford (1845–1915) novelist and artist, daughter of John Colquhoun *1 - Frances Mary Colquhoun (1836–) author, daughter of John Colquhoun *3 (or 5?) - William Paterson Paterson (1860–1939) theologian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland *5 - Henry Westmacott, monumental sculptor, son of Richard Westmacott, sculptor *5 - Robert Kerr Hannay (1867–1940) historian *5 - Robert Flint (1838–1910)

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

*8 -

Alexander Ignatius Roche Alexander Ignatius Roche (17 August 1861 – 10 March 1921) RSA NEAC RP was a Scottish artist in the late 19th century and an important figure in the "Glasgow Boys". Life He was born in the Gallowgate in Glasgow, the son of a milliner, Alexand ...

(1861–1921) artist, an important figure in the “ Glasgow Boys” *15 -

Charles Piazzi Smyth Charles Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900) was a British astronomer who was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888; he is known for many innovations in astronomy and, along with his wife Jessica Duncan Piazzi Smyth, hi ...

(1819–1900), Astronomer Royal for Scotland (1846–1888) *19 - Rev

Robert Boog Watson Robert Boog Watson Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (26 September 1823 – 23 June 1910) was a Scottish malacology, malacologist and Minister (Christianity), minister of the Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), Free Church of Sco ...

(1823–1910) malacologist and minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and his brother Patrick Heron Watson *19 - Francis Chalmers Crawford (1851–1908) FRSE, stockbroker, amateur botanist and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

*20 - Charles Alexander Stevenson (1855–1950) lighthouse engineer, uncle of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

*21-22 - Charles Saroléa (1870–1953) Professor of French and writer on international affairs *22 -

George Reid Sir George Houston Reid (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was a Scottish-born Australian and British politician, diplomat, and barrister who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1904 t ...

(1841–1913) artist *24, 38, 35 - James Cowan (1816–1895) Liberal Party politician, son of Alexander Cowan *25 -

Alan Stevenson Alan Stevenson FRSE MInstCE (28 April 1807 – 23 December 1865) was a Scottish civil engineer, known for designing and building lighthouses in and around Scotland. Life Alan Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on 28 April 1807, the eldest son ...

(1807–1865) lighthouse engineer, uncle of

*25 - David Stevenson (1815–1886) lighthouse designer, uncle of

*27 - Sir William Taylour Thomson (1813–1883) KCMG CB, military officer and diplomat *28 - John Crabbie (1806-1891) - founder of John Crabbie & Co, Crabbies Green Ginger etc. *28 - Roderick Ross (1865–1943) Chief Constable of Edinburgh City Police (1900–1935) *28 - Thomas Hutchison (1866–1925) landowner and politician,

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is elected by and is the convener of the City of Edinburgh Council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the Lord-Lieutenant of ...

from 1921 to 1923 *32 - John Bartholomew (1831–1893) cartographer *32 - Thomas Brown (1806–1872) architect *33 - Lt Gen Thomas Robert Swinburne (1794–1864) and Adam Alexander Dawson (1913–2010) film and television author *35 - Alexander Cowan (1775–1859) papermaker and philanthropist, father of James Cowan and Charles Cowan - visited by niece Helen Bannerman, who was also born there *36 - Adam Dawson (1842-1915) whisky merchant, Margaret Anne Inches Thomson (1851 - 1919) heiress died here, her spouse John Sen Inches Thomson (1844 - 1933) ship owner and author *37 - Rev Prof William Stevenson (1805–1873) *37 - Charles Cowan (1801–1889) politician and paper-maker, son of Alexander Cowan *39 -

Donald Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bac ...

(1875–1940) musicologist, composer, and musician

Present use

The terrace is now in both commercial and residential use. This includes six hotels, including the

Crowne Plaza Crowne Plaza by IHG is a multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels headquartered in the United Kingdom. It caters to the business, leisure and blended travel market usually located in city centers, resorts, coastal towns or near major a ...

that occupies the central colonnaded section (numbers 17 to 22), 24 Royal Terrace – a boutique art hotel, a restaurant, the Finnish Consulate, the Ukrainian Community Centre, offices, including those of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the arts-supporting Dunard Fund, and rental accommodation. Most of the former townhouses have been split into flats. It was announced in 2022, that the hotel in 8 Royal Terrace would be converted back to residential use.

References

Bibliography

* Mitchell, Anne (1993), "The People of Calton Hill", pp 73–98 (chapter 4)

Mercat Press Mercat Press is an imprint of the Edinburgh, Scotland-based publishing company Birlinn Limited. It was established in 1970 as a subsidiary of the bookseller James Thin, and published facsimile editions of out-of-print Scottish works, such as ...

, James Thin, Edinburgh,

External links

Regent, Royal, and Carlton Terraces & Mews Association (RRCTMA) official website
{{coord, 55.9569, -3.1776, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Georgian architecture in Scotland Streets in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Calton Hill Listed houses in Scotland