The Georgian House, Edinburgh

At the end of May I had a wonderful week away in Edinburgh visiting my daughter and her husband but also taking in visits to anything related to my project.  I have lots of images and notes for the period that I am doing (1776-1830) but the details of houses are hard to come by. For example how did the bell pull enter/exit the wall, what were the hinges and other door furniture like and many more questions I couldn't find answers to.

Quite rightly, if you see pictures of rooms and houses they are there to give you the view of a whole room or a building, whereas I wanted to look at the nitty-gritty.  This nitty-gritty is hard to find for the casual 'historian' because most Georgian houses you see have been overlayed by an additional three hundred years of people living in them and/or the subjective foibles of any historical restorer.  Indeed I would claim, quite often, even they get it just plain 'wrong'.  Yes, that surprises me too.

So, with all that in mind, we were off to see the main reason of our trip - The Georgian House in Edinburgh.  Please do click on the link and take a look.

Anyone doing a Georgian/Regency property and who can get to Edinburgh should do so.  A day spent in the wonderful 'New Town' which has been beautifully preserved (not artificially) is just a joy.  You are really immersed in the time.

It is best to begin on the top floor of the house and watch the video about life in the house during that period and then work your way down to the basement.  If you are interested it will probably take you about an hour and a half to complete the tour.

There is information in every room which is interestingly written and informative and each room's docent couldn't be more welcoming, enthusiastic and knowledgeable - its a really lovely place to visit.

The following photographs belong to the National Trust of Scotland who have kindly given me permission to use them here.  Please do not use them without permission.

serene ceiling rose in the hall

willow and lots of glass and always a tablecoth

such a pretty fireplace

I have one almost identical to this.

simple colour scheme 

Pretty sure this is my colour scheme.

lovely square piano

Might have one made as my birthday present from the family. Miniature of course.

this is a plaster trim and in the same room

there is a trompe l'oeil one painted  above the doors

Hope to do this in the hall.

view of the room

This is pretty much the basis for my drawing room.  I am surprised by the picking out of trims with white but their information did say the decor came from research on another house and is true to the period so who am I to argue. I like it so much more than the concept of everything being painted in the same colour which is the general rule for this time.

lights in service areas

window seat

I have one - need another

nice 'desk' arrangement

Table with flap down front and writing box on top - very Jane Austin

the 'right' sort of barrels

A huge amount of stuff came in barrels; water, ale, small beer, wine, all kinds of dry goods, pickles, wrapped meats and on and on and on.  Other food storage was glass (surprised me) and stoneware.

functional dresser and batterie de cuisine

the wine cellar 

the bells (no tabs!!)

These bells should have little tabs on strings.  You often got to the board after the bell had stopped ringing/moving but a little tag on a string kept moving for a while afterwards so you could tell which room you needed to go to.

a vented storage room door

This was a technique used in pantries up to my childhood - there would be holes at floor level preferably to the outside and holes at the top (both usually through walls.  (meshed to keep insects out).  Hot air rises, so cool air was continually drawn in through the vent at the bottom and left the pantry at the top as it warmed up.  A pantry was always several degrees cooler than the kitchen.

an original lock and door knob

Doorknobs were generally black, not the brass we see everywhere.  Brass came late in the century and was only in the grandest of houses - gold coloured metals seen in palaces were often that - they were gilded metals.

This is just a tiny fraction of the details you can discover for yourself if you look carefully.  A tour of a house of the period can answer literally hundreds of questions you might have when you come to decorate, furnish or build your project so much better than any book or the hours spent trawling the web.  

In the case of this tour, for us, it was free as we are members of the English National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland  has a recipricol arrangement with them.