A section of Royal Terrace at the west end of the street, with six Ionic columns. This contains two townhouses: number 4 with the central entrance and two bays to the left, and number 3 with the right two bays and an entrance in the un-colonnaded section to the right (just out of view).
William Henry Playfair 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, 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.[2] The streets were named in connection with the visit to Edinburgh of George IV 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.[3]
Architecture
Royal Terrace is in the form of an extended, 121-bay 'palace front' of classical 3-bay (and one 4-bay) townhouses.[4] Playfair's original drawings are held by Edinburgh University, including plans for the whole facade as well as individual sections.[5] The houses are now all category A listed buildings.[4]
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. The upper floors throughout are of polished ashlar stone with basements of droved ashlar. The houses are of two or three storeys with attics to the colonnaded sections.[4][6][7]
The long symmetrical facade alternates between colonnaded and un-colonnaded sections, from east to west, as follows:[4][6][7]
Panorama of Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, reaching from Carlton Terrace in the east (extreme left), to Greenside Church in the west (extreme right) — this is probably the longest Georgian terrace in Europe, a straight, continuous structure measuring 360 metres from east to west.
Construction
40 Royal Terrace, the first house to be built in 1821–1822, an example of a two-storey townhouse (with basement and attic) in a section without Greek columns
Playfair hoped to attract "fashionable and wealthy people" to Calton Hill,[8] but almost immediately he encountered competition from new developments to the western end of the New Town, in particular the Moray Estate.[2]
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,[9] 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.[10] Numbers 1 and 2 were built in 1857,[4] and number 3 in 1859.[11] The section from 16 to 22 was built in the early 1860s,[12] with number 15 also dating from that decade.[13]
Length and 'Whisky row'
Royal Terrace is a continuous straight structure of about 360 metres, reputedly the longest Georgian terrace in Europe.[14] It is 30 metres longer than the Royal York Crescent (1791–1820) in Clifton, Bristol.[15] The Moray Estate claim a single built-up environment of nearly 600 metres,[16][17] 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.[18]
Former residents
Entrance to 4 Royal Terrace with original fanlight above the door
39 - Donald Tovey (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 that occupies the central colonnaded section (numbers 17 to 22),[20] 24 Royal Terrace – a boutique art hotel,[21] a restaurant, the Finnish Consulate,[22] the Ukrainian Community Centre,[23] 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.[24]
Royal Terrace Mews, originally the stables for the street
royal, terrace, edinburgh, royal, terrace, grand, street, city, edinburgh, scotland, north, side, calton, hill, within, town, part, unesco, world, heritage, site, inscribed, 1995, built, south, side, setted, street, facing, sloping, banks, london, road, garden. Royal Terrace is a grand street in the city of Edinburgh Scotland on the north side of Calton Hill within the New Town and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995 1 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 and the Firth of Forth View of the western end of Royal Terrace from London Road Gardens formerly Royal Terrace Gardens Contents 1 Showpiece of the Eastern New Town 2 Architecture 3 Construction 4 Length and Whisky row 5 Former residents 5 1 Listed by address 6 Present use 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External linksShowpiece of the Eastern New Town Edit A section of Royal Terrace at the west end of the street with six Ionic columns This contains two townhouses number 4 with the central entrance and two bays to the left and number 3 with the right two bays and an entrance in the un colonnaded section to the right just out of view William Henry Playfair 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 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 2 The streets were named in connection with the visit to Edinburgh of George IV 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 3 Architecture EditRoyal Terrace is in the form of an extended 121 bay palace front of classical 3 bay and one 4 bay townhouses 4 Playfair s original drawings are held by Edinburgh University including plans for the whole facade as well as individual sections 5 The houses are now all category A listed buildings 4 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 The upper floors throughout are of polished ashlar stone with basements of droved ashlar The houses are of two or three storeys with attics to the colonnaded sections 4 6 7 The long symmetrical facade alternates between colonnaded and un colonnaded sections from east to west as follows 4 6 7 plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 6 Ionic columns plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 6 Ionic columns plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 7 Corinthian columns plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 10 Corinthian columns centre plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 7 Corinthian columns plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 6 Ionic columns plain with roof balustrade pavilion with 6 Ionic columns plain with roof balustrade Panorama of Royal Terrace Edinburgh reaching from Carlton Terrace in the east extreme left to Greenside Church in the west extreme right this is probably the longest Georgian terrace in Europe a straight continuous structure measuring 360 metres from east to west Construction Edit 40 Royal Terrace the first house to be built in 1821 1822 an example of a two storey townhouse with basement and attic in a section without Greek columns Playfair hoped to attract fashionable and wealthy people to Calton Hill 8 but almost immediately he encountered competition from new developments to the western end of the New Town in particular the Moray Estate 2 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 9 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 10 Numbers 1 and 2 were built in 1857 4 and number 3 in 1859 11 The section from 16 to 22 was built in the early 1860s 12 with number 15 also dating from that decade 13 Length and Whisky row EditRoyal Terrace is a continuous straight structure of about 360 metres reputedly the longest Georgian terrace in Europe 14 It is 30 metres longer than the Royal York Crescent 1791 1820 in Clifton Bristol 15 The Moray Estate claim a single built up environment of nearly 600 metres 16 17 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 amp Company responsible for Crabbie s Ginger Wine who lived in number 22 from 1861 to 1891 18 Former residents Edit Entrance to 4 Royal Terrace with original fanlight above the door Garden behind 11 Royal Terrace Listed by address Edit 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 and philosopher 8 Alexander Ignatius Roche 1861 1921 artist an important figure in the Glasgow Boys 15 Charles Piazzi Smyth 1819 1900 Astronomer Royal for Scotland 1846 1888 19 Rev Robert Boog Watson 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 20 Charles Alexander Stevenson 1855 1950 lighthouse engineer uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson 21 22 Charles Sarolea 1870 1953 Professor of French and writer on international affairs 22 George Reid 1841 1913 artist 24 38 35 James Cowan 1816 1895 Liberal Party politician son of Alexander Cowan 25 Alan Stevenson 1807 1865 lighthouse engineer uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson 25 David Stevenson 1815 1886 lighthouse designer uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson 27 Sir William Taylour Thomson 1813 1883 KCMG CB military officer and diplomat 28 John Crabbie 1806 1891 founder of John Crabbie amp Co Crabbies Green Ginger etc 19 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 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 Margaret Anne Inches Thomson 1851 1919 heiress and 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 1875 1940 musicologist composer and musicianPresent use EditThe terrace is now in both commercial and residential use This includes six hotels including the Crowne Plaza that occupies the central colonnaded section numbers 17 to 22 20 24 Royal Terrace a boutique art hotel 21 a restaurant the Finnish Consulate 22 the Ukrainian Community Centre 23 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 24 Royal Terrace Mews originally the stables for the streetSee also EditCarlton Terrace Edinburgh Regent Royal and Carlton Terrace Gardens London Road Gardens Calton Hill Regent Terrace William Henry PlayfairReferences Edit UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscription Accessed 2018 02 09 a b Youngson A J 2001 The Companion Guide to Edinburgh and the borders Chapter 9 Calton Hill Polygon Books Edinburgh UK ISBN 0 7486 6307 X Report on The New Town Conservation Area by Edinburgh Town Council Archived 2006 10 08 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e Listed building information for 1 and 2 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 10 February 2018 Edinburgh University William Henry Playfair Architectural Drawings 821 877 a b Listed building information for 3 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 24 February 2018 a b Listed building information for 4 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 24 February 2018 Youngson A J 1966 The Making of Classical Edinburgh pp 155 156 Edinburgh University Press ISBN 0 7486 1768 X Listed building information for 40 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 13 March 2021 Listed building information for 33 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 14 March 2021 Listed building information for 3 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 13 March 2021 Listed building information for 16 to 22 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 13 March 2021 Listed building information for 15 Royal Terrace Historic Environment Scotland accessed 13 March 2021 Space and grace The Scotsman 28 September 2006 Historic England Images of England Michael Carley at al 2015 Edinburgh New Town A Model City The secret garden The Guardian 8 July 2017 Mitchell Anne 1993 The People of Calton Hill p 83 Mercat Press James Thin Edinburgh ISBN 1 873644 18 3 Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1881 History galore Th Scotsman 11 August 2007 Retrieved 16 February 2018 24 Royal Terrace Hotel Finnish Consulate in Edinburgh AUGB Scotland Scottish Ukrainians website Historic Edinburgh hotel on iconic street set to be turned into opulent mansion Edinburgh Live 3 April 2022 Bibliography Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Terrace Edinburgh Mitchell Anne 1993 The People of Calton Hill pp 73 98 chapter 4 Mercat Press James Thin Edinburgh ISBN 1 873644 18 3External links EditRegent Royal and Carlton Terraces amp Mews Association RRCTMA official website Coordinates 55 57 25 N 3 10 39 W 55 9569 N 3 1776 W 55 9569 3 1776 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Royal Terrace Edinburgh amp oldid 1132451574, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
