The Fiction Factory

The Georgian House

The National Trust for Scotland maintain the property at number 7 Charlotte Square in Edinburgh, providing visitors the opportunity to see what a property looked like during the eighteenth century. It was built in 1796 for John Lamont, designed by architect Robert Adam. The square was part of the first phase of the New Town, and Adam came up with the idea of a palace front to the individual properties, effectively blurring the distinction between the houses. Adam produced the design in 1791, but died the following year. Work continued, but was delayed due to the Napoleonic Wars, with the square being completed by 1820.

There is a great deal known about life in the early 1800’s, as three of the inhabitants of the square produced accounts of their lives. Elizabeth Grant, Memoirs of a Highland Lady, Henry Cockburn, Memorials of his Time and Krystyn Lach-Szyrma, a Polish Tutor, Reminiscences of a Journey through England and Scotland 1820-24. I haven’t looked these up yet, but I am excited to see that two hundred years ago, people were taking the time to put down their impressions of what life was like for them. Of course, these were the well-off and a good deal of what has been written was produced by the wealthy. However, there is immense value in such accounts and it helps us form a picture of what life was like then.

Number seven provides a glimpse into the daily existence for both the owners of the property and those who worked in service for them. We have beautifully furnished rooms with oil paintings by Scottish artists such as Henry Raeburn and Alexander Nasmyth. Downstairs in the basement, we can see what life was like for the servants, working sixteen hour days to keep the household running. The basement actually provided a home for some of the employees.

There are staff on hand to take questions, in the various rooms, but you can walk around freely and tour the building at your own pace. If you go to the top floor, there is an excellent short film that puts the place in its historical context, providing insight on what you will view as you make your way through the property. The art work and furniture is stunning. I was surprised to see how bright the decor is. For some reason I had imagined it would be darker, especially the walls, but apparently not. I was excited to take a look at what is called the Square Piano, made by Edinburgh cabinetmaker Richard Horsburgh in 1802. It doesn’t have sustain pedals and there are only five octaves as opposed to eight on a modern instrument. I also got some photographs of a grandfather clock. I really must try and gather these together and document them as I have seen a great many now. Some impressive bookcases are also on display, so being able to take in some old books, art, clocks and a piano, this site ticks all the boxes for me!

I got into conversation with one of the guides who showed me a small painting at the side of the bed in the master bedroom. It featured the owners daughters, dressed in white, though one of them was in black. Turns out she had died, and the painting was to remember her. I wasn’t aware that depicting the deceased in that way, in black, was something that occurred then. It got me thinking about attitudes to death, then and now, and the talks I’ve been giving on artificial intelligence and deep fakes and the growth of on-line services that now provide for virtual memorials for those no longer with us. It was during the conversation with the guide that I made the connection in my mind with an exhibition I had seen at the museum at least a decade ago, on Victorian post-mortem photography. I’ve made a note to include this fact in my next talk as maybe virtual reproductions of the deceased today, is not that much removed from the Victorian attitude towards death.

To finish on a more up-beat note, there is one painting, and I didn’t make a note of who the portrait was of, where the folded arms and hands of the woman were drawn extremely badly. The image itself is fine, it’s just as if someone else had finished it up who didn’t have much talent as an artist.