Before Adam: the origins of Register House

Speaker: Dr Tristram Clarke
This talk was given by Dr Tristram Clarke on 12 June 2024 in General Register House, Edinburgh.
The foundation stone of General Register House in Edinburgh was laid on 27th June 1774. Standing at the junction of Princes Street and the North Bridge, Robert Adam’s neoclassical masterpiece is a familiar Edinburgh landmark. Yet a Register House was not always destined to be built on this site, or even in the New Town. The 250th anniversary of its foundation provides a good moment to re-examine how the Register House came to stand where it does. This talk covers the story of how and why a modern home for Scotland's national archives was created, and its close connection to the birth of Edinburgh’s New Town.