Description of the attraction
The Georgian House is an urban residential building of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, located in Charlotte Square, in the New Town.
In 1766 the then unknown young architect James Craig wins a competition to plan and build a new part of Edinburgh. By the middle of the 18th century, Edinburgh, whose area is bounded by the city walls, is overpopulated and overcrowded. There is a catastrophic lack of building space, even multi-storey buildings cannot save the situation. A typical example of urban housing at the time is the Gladstones Land home on Royal Mile. Not only poor people live in cramped conditions, but also wealthy people. Wealthy people are increasingly moving from Edinburgh to other cities.
The situation becomes critical, and, finally, a decision is made to build a New City to the north of the existing one. The swampy lake Nor-Lokh is drained and covered with earth, new residential areas with luxurious houses and straight wide streets and avenues are being built. It is in the New City in Edinburgh that most of the Georgian-style residential buildings have survived. Number seven in Charlotte Square is a fine example of such an apartment building. In 1972, it became the property of the National Trust for Scotland, and the foundation decided to recreate the atmosphere in the house as it was under the first tenants, the family of John Lamont.
There are no tours around the house, but each room has a caretaker who can answer any questions from visitors. As a rule, the visit starts from the basement floor. Here you can watch a film that briefly tells about the history of the construction of the New City and how the Lamont family lived in 1810. In the far part there is a kitchen, which is equipped with everything that was considered necessary at that time.
The ground floor houses the dining room and master bedroom. In the dining room, a large table is set for dinner; there are many portraits on the walls. Portraits of ancestors are a great topic for a table conversation at a dinner party and an opportunity to unobtrusively show off your origin to guests. In the bedroom, the central place is occupied by a bed made in 1774. There is a bathroom adjacent to the bedroom, where a flush toilet was installed in 1805.
One floor above there are two living rooms. The main living room is decorated with exquisite paintings, a piano, and a wonderful marble fireplace. The second living room is more modest, as a rule, the whole family gathered there. Tea was also served here - sweets on the table, in the buffet - a porcelain tea set.
