George Street

Why go

The Assembly Rooms and the church of St Andrew and St George give this broad street more architectural interest than a simple shopping circuit. Its straight alignment also explains James Craig’s New Town plan. The two squares provide a clear beginning and end for a focused walk through Georgian Edinburgh.

What to look for

• The Assembly Rooms date from 1787.
• St Andrew’s and St George’s Church dates from 1784.
• The straight street connects St Andrew Square with Charlotte Square.

The full story

George Street was laid out from 1767 as part of James Craig’s plan for the New Town and named for George III. Its long straight axis connects the eastern and western formal squares. That relationship is useful to keep in mind: individual facades belong to a larger arrangement of parallel streets and cross streets, rather than to a road that grew by chance. The street also preserves buildings created for Edinburgh’s public and social life. The church of St Andrew and St George dates from 1784, and the Assembly Rooms followed in 1787. Later bank buildings added grand classical designs to the Georgian setting. Their scale shows how commerce joined the residential and civic ambitions of the original district. A walk along George Street therefore offers two things at once: the clarity of the eighteenth-century plan and the richer mix of uses that developed within it. Look along the full street before concentrating on its individual buildings.

Useful to know

• Walk between the two squares to see the street as one planned composition.
• Compare George Street’s enclosed frontages with the open Castle outlook from Princes Street.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.