Regent Terrace
Encyclopedia
Regent Terrace is a residential street of 34 classical 3-bay townhouses built on the tail of Calton Hill in the city of Edinburgh
, Scotland
. Regent Terrace is within the Edinburgh New
and Old Town
UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995.
who had been Prince Regent until 1820 during the illness of his father George III
. The terrace was designed by the architect William Playfair
in 1825 and built between 1826 and 1833. Playfair designed Regent, Royal and Carlton Terraces at the same time as part of an Eastern extension to the New Town that was planned to be even more magnificent than Craig's original New Town. Playfair hoped to attract the “fashionable and wealthy people” to Regent Terrace. The houses are all category A listed buildings.
The houses were all originally of two stories and basement (although some now have three stories) on one side of the street with continuous trellis balconies and a string of Doric porches facing the Holyrood Park
, Arthur's Seat
, Holyrood Palace
, the Old Town
and the Scottish Parliament building
. The houses in the terrace are a mixture of tenures — most are privately owned and occupied but some are rented as holiday accommodation. Some of the houses in the terrace have been split into flats.
Number 3 Regent Terrace has been the United States Consulate since 1951. Number 28 was originally the Free French House and was opened by General de Gaulle in 1942. Later it became the French Consulate and then the home of the French consul-general. Number 32 was the home of the Norwegian consul-general until 2008. The Western end of Regent Terrace was closed in 2001 to traffic because of security concerns about the United States Consulate. The City of Edinburgh Council
proposed closing a second major entrance to the Calton Hill Terraces in 2010 because of the Edinburgh Trams Project
and rose to ₤2,000 at the end of the war, ₤4,000 by the mid 1950s, ₤400,000 in 1993 and over ₤2,000,000 in 2008.
, principal of Edinburgh University, also lived there towards the end of his life. Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême (the elder son of Charles X of France
, last king of the House of Bourbon
) and his wife Madame Royale, (the daughter of Louis XVI of France
and Marie Antoinette
), moved into what is now 22 (then 21) Regent Terrace in 1830. the duchesse de Berry, sister in law of the Duke of Angoulême, also lived at what is now 12 (then 11) Regent Terrace at that time. Her young son, Henri, Count of Chambord grandson of Charles X, is said to have wept bitterly when his family left for Austria in 1832 as he had become very attached to Scotland.
The painter Sir George Harvey lived at 21 Regent Terrace from 1854 to 1876. Sir George was one of the founders of the Royal Scottish Academy
, was elected president in 1864 and was knighted in 1867. Sir James Puckering Gibson
1st Baronet of Regent Terrace
was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1906 to 1909 and represented Edinburgh East
in the House of Commons
as a Liberal
between 1909 and 1912. He lived at 33 Regent Terrace from 1880 and was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 23 November 1909. Sir James had no children so when he died in 1812 his title became extinct. The painter Francis Cadell
, one of the Scottish Colourists
, lived in 30 Regent Terrace from 1930-1935. Sir George Dick-Lauder, 10th Baronet
, an Indian Civil Service Administrator, lived at 16 Regent Terrace and died there in 1936. Queen Mary
used to visit Sir Hew Hamilton Dalrymple
KCVO
at Number 24. Sir Hew, brother of the Earl of Stair
, Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire
and Captain of the Royal Company of Archers
, the King's Bodyguard for Scotland, lived there until he died in 1945. John Murray, 9th Earl of Dunmore
lived at 14 Regent Terrace until his death in 1980.
The authoress and mathematician Anne Mitchell, who worked at Bletchly Park during World War II
on the German Enigma
cypher machines, lived for forty years at number 20 Regent Terrace. Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, composer, conductor and Master of the Queen's Music
, lived at 13 Regent Terrace until 2000. The actor Sean Connery
and the Argentinian footballer Claudio Caniggia
reportedly bid for 17 Regent Terrace in 2001 but neither succeeded in buying it The diplomat Sir James Marjoribanks lived at 13 Regent Terrace. from 1966 until his death in 2003. Sir James was British Ambassador to the European Economic Community, presented Britain's application to join the European Community in 1967 and was instrumental in this application becoming successful.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Regent Terrace is within the Edinburgh New
New Town, Edinburgh
The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is often considered to be a masterpiece of city planning, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
and Old Town
Old Town, Edinburgh
The Old Town of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is the medieval part of the city. Together with the 18th-century New Town, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings....
UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995.
Houses
The name Regent Terrace was used because of the visit to Edinburgh in 1822 of George IVGeorge IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
who had been Prince Regent until 1820 during the illness of his father George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
. The terrace was designed by the architect William Playfair
William Henry Playfair
William Henry Playfair FRSE was one of the greatest Scottish architects of the 19th century, designer of many of Edinburgh's neo-classical landmarks in the New Town....
in 1825 and built between 1826 and 1833. Playfair designed Regent, Royal and Carlton Terraces at the same time as part of an Eastern extension to the New Town that was planned to be even more magnificent than Craig's original New Town. Playfair hoped to attract the “fashionable and wealthy people” to Regent Terrace. The houses are all category A listed buildings.
The houses were all originally of two stories and basement (although some now have three stories) on one side of the street with continuous trellis balconies and a string of Doric porches facing the Holyrood Park
Holyrood Park
Holyrood Park is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt cliffs, and patches of whin providing a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape within its area...
, Arthur's Seat
Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh
Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle...
, Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
, the Old Town
Old Town, Edinburgh
The Old Town of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is the medieval part of the city. Together with the 18th-century New Town, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings....
and the Scottish Parliament building
Scottish Parliament Building
The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7...
. The houses in the terrace are a mixture of tenures — most are privately owned and occupied but some are rented as holiday accommodation. Some of the houses in the terrace have been split into flats.
Number 3 Regent Terrace has been the United States Consulate since 1951. Number 28 was originally the Free French House and was opened by General de Gaulle in 1942. Later it became the French Consulate and then the home of the French consul-general. Number 32 was the home of the Norwegian consul-general until 2008. The Western end of Regent Terrace was closed in 2001 to traffic because of security concerns about the United States Consulate. The City of Edinburgh Council
Politics of Edinburgh
The politics of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, are evident in the deliberations and decisions of the council of Edinburgh, in elections to the council, the Scottish Parliament, the House of Commons and the European Parliament....
proposed closing a second major entrance to the Calton Hill Terraces in 2010 because of the Edinburgh Trams Project
House prices
Number 6 Regent Terrace was sold for ₤1,500 in 1831 and ₤2,700 in 1877. Prices then dropped as low as ₤1,000 before World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and rose to ₤2,000 at the end of the war, ₤4,000 by the mid 1950s, ₤400,000 in 1993 and over ₤2,000,000 in 2008.
People
The first resident was Isaac Bayley, a solicitor to the Supreme Court, who occupied number 13 Regent Terrace in 1826. Bayely's father-in-law Dr. George Husband BairdGeorge Husband Baird
George Husband Baird was a Church of Scotland minister, educational reformer and the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1793 to 1840.-Early life:...
, principal of Edinburgh University, also lived there towards the end of his life. Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême (the elder son of Charles X of France
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
, last king of the House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
) and his wife Madame Royale, (the daughter of Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
and Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
), moved into what is now 22 (then 21) Regent Terrace in 1830. the duchesse de Berry, sister in law of the Duke of Angoulême, also lived at what is now 12 (then 11) Regent Terrace at that time. Her young son, Henri, Count of Chambord grandson of Charles X, is said to have wept bitterly when his family left for Austria in 1832 as he had become very attached to Scotland.
The painter Sir George Harvey lived at 21 Regent Terrace from 1854 to 1876. Sir George was one of the founders of the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
, was elected president in 1864 and was knighted in 1867. Sir James Puckering Gibson
Sir James Gibson, 1st Baronet
Sir James Gibson, 1st Baronet was Liberal MP for Edinburgh East from 1909 to 1912.- External links :...
1st Baronet of Regent Terrace
Gibson Baronets
There have been four Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Gibson, one in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia and three in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Two of the creations are extinct....
was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1906 to 1909 and represented Edinburgh East
Edinburgh East (UK Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
as a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
between 1909 and 1912. He lived at 33 Regent Terrace from 1880 and was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 23 November 1909. Sir James had no children so when he died in 1812 his title became extinct. The painter Francis Cadell
Francis Cadell (artist)
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell RSA was a Scottish Colourist painter, renowned for his depictions of the elegant New Town interiors of his native Edinburgh, and for his work on Iona....
, one of the Scottish Colourists
Scottish Colourists
The Scottish Colourists were a group of painters from Scotland whose work was not very highly regarded when it was first exhibited in the 1920s and 1930s, but which in the late 20th Century came to have a formative influence on contemporary Scottish art....
, lived in 30 Regent Terrace from 1930-1935. Sir George Dick-Lauder, 10th Baronet
Sir George Dick-Lauder, 10th Baronet
Sir George William Dalrymple Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, 10th Baronet was an Indian Civil Service Senior Administrator in the Government of India's Opium Department....
, an Indian Civil Service Administrator, lived at 16 Regent Terrace and died there in 1936. Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
used to visit Sir Hew Hamilton Dalrymple
Hew Hamilton Dalrymple
Hew Hamilton Dalrymple was Unionist Party MP for Wigtownshire .He was the son of John Dalrymple, 10th Earl of Stair....
KCVO
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
at Number 24. Sir Hew, brother of the Earl of Stair
Earl of Stair
Earl of Stair is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1703 for the lawyer and statesman John Dalrymple, 2nd Viscount of Stair. He actively supported William III's claim to the throne and served as Secretary of State for Scotland. However, he was forced to resign after he authorised...
, Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire
Wigtownshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Wigtownshire, was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by one Member of Parliament....
and Captain of the Royal Company of Archers
Royal Company of Archers
The Royal Company of Archers is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland, a role it has performed since 1822 and the reign of King George IV, when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his visit to Scotland. It is currently known as the Queen's...
, the King's Bodyguard for Scotland, lived there until he died in 1945. John Murray, 9th Earl of Dunmore
Earl of Dunmore
Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. He was made Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet and Viscount of Fincastle at the same time, also in the Peerage of Scotland. He was...
lived at 14 Regent Terrace until his death in 1980.
The authoress and mathematician Anne Mitchell, who worked at Bletchly Park during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
on the German Enigma
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
cypher machines, lived for forty years at number 20 Regent Terrace. Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, composer, conductor and Master of the Queen's Music
Master of the Queen's Music
Master of the Queen's Music is a post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The holder of the post originally served the monarch of England.The post is roughly comparable to that of Poet Laureate...
, lived at 13 Regent Terrace until 2000. The actor Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
and the Argentinian footballer Claudio Caniggia
Claudio Caniggia
Claudio Paul Caniggia is a former Argentine football forward, who played 50 times for the Argentine national team. He appeared in three World Cups, and was a member of both rival clubs River Plate and Boca Juniors. Caniggia was known for his speed as a player and competed in Athletics before his...
reportedly bid for 17 Regent Terrace in 2001 but neither succeeded in buying it The diplomat Sir James Marjoribanks lived at 13 Regent Terrace. from 1966 until his death in 2003. Sir James was British Ambassador to the European Economic Community, presented Britain's application to join the European Community in 1967 and was instrumental in this application becoming successful.