From Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh's new town - a tale of classicism revisted
by Kin Hui

Abstract

As a world heritage site, the old and new towns of Edinburgh can be taken as a remarkable tale of two urbanscapes. Visitors will be amazed by the contrast of the medieval old town and Georgian new town in a spectacular topographic setting. Holyrood Palace is one of the landmark in the old town which embodies a sophisticated architectural treatment. It was subjected to a major remodeling from the 16 to 17th century and its classical appearance is still well preserved to the present days. By latter part of mid-18th century, Edinburgh embarked on a major new town development. Under the influence of Enlightenment, the blue print for Edinburgh’s Georgian town was formulated in the fashionable neo-classical manner. This paper will examine how the classical language in architectural and urban context was being taken up by the Scottish architects through different periods.

PART I - HOLYROOD PALACE AND CHAPEL

The historical background of Holyrood Palace and Chapel

Holyrood Palace is located at the far end of High Street, the main artery of the old medieval town of Edinburgh, while the Palace in Edinburgh Castle is at the uphill of High Street on the other end. Fig. 1 shows the overall view of the Holyrood Chapel and palace in 1897 with the picturesque backdrop of Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park. In the picture, the craig of Arthur’s Seat rises forcefully towards the sky like a firing arrow. The Holyrood Palace is still functioning nowadays as the official residence of the British monarch together with the two others in England, the Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The earliest recorded history of the complex started with the construction of the Abbey in 1128 when it was found by King David I on his revelation after a hunting accident in the area. Its name was derived from the ‘true cross’ which image was believed to save the life of King David I during the hunting episode. It was from the early 1320s that the enclave had become the royal residence of the Stuarts that heralded the Stuart dynasty.

A series of engraving is collected in the appendices (Appendix 03 to 05), which shows the Abbey in the image of a romantic ruin. It is still kept in such conditions nowadays to represent the unfortunate events of history that had happened to the abbey. The church was ransacked and destroyed during the Scottish Reformation during 1559. It was built mainly in the style of Gothic architecture. From the excavation in early 20th century, the foundations formed an oblong, 45 feet by 22, built of unhewn stones [1]. Its layout indicated a central nave flanked by aisles on either of sides with the main altar at the end under the Tracery window. At the lower portion of its longitudinal buttressed wall, it revealed the intersecting blind arcades of Romanesque arches along the aisle which style could be identified with the Norman period when the church was first laid its foundation in the early twelfth century.

Fig. 2 is one of the earliest images of the Holyrood Palace depicted by artist, F. de Witt, in 1650. It shows the west view of the original structure of palace erected by King James V, but unfortunately, only its two large cylindrical towers on the left hand side of the picture remained to the present. The design shows two stories topped by battlemented parapets with a polygonal tower at the right and decoration of large sundials. Mary, Queen of Scots, the iconic figure of the Stuart family, lived in the palace upon her return from France after the death of her first French husband, the king of France, in 1559. The tumultuous life of Queen Mary’s legend fueled intriguing historical tales to the palace. Most dramatic event of all was the murder of her Italian secretary, David Rizzio, by nobles in league with her second husband, Henry Stuart, the Lord Darnley that took place in the tower. The bed chamber of Queen Mary in the old tower is still kept nowadays for the display to visitors with its original dark oak paneled ceiling. (Appendix 06)

THE QUADRANGLE PLAN AND THE PROPORTIONAL STUDY FOR THE INTERNAL COURTYARD

The Holyrood Palace had undergone its royal reconstruction from 1671 to 79. The project was designed by William Bruce, the King’s Surveyor-General, with Robert Mylne as the master mason and James Smith, the consulting master mason. They worked to the instructions of the Earl of Lauderdale under the reign of King Charles II. The expansion of the palace was to cater accommodation for Lauderdale and visiting royals, and to provide apartments for officers of state and the Privy Council [2]. On the front elevation, the tower as seen on the left hand side of Fig. 3, was to be retained. The original tower was built in earlier years by James V. The new main palace building was to follow a configuration of quadrangle. To create the symmetrical outlook for the palace, a replica of tower on right hand side was constructed to mirror the great tower of James V.

Fig. 4 shows the view of the central courtyard with annotation for the proportional study on its elevation. The treatment of the central courtyard is a remarkable example of classical architecture. On ground floor, the embedded columns are in Doric order, the first floor Ionic and the second floor Corinthian. The central bay is topped with a triangular pediment decorated with the coat of arm of Charles II. The geometry for elevation was beautifully executed to follow the golden ratio 1 to 1.618. It has to note that the golden ratio was the very mathematical rule discovered during ancient Greek and was identified with divine beauty in aesthetic term. As in the annotation of Fig. 4, the ground and first floor in the central portion forms into the geometry of a quadrangle while the top floor extends its elevation visually upward to attain the golden ratio. The bays on either side of the central portion also follow in the same manner as to reinforce the symmetrical appearance and visual balance.

The layouts for Holyrood Palace and Abbey Church can be found at Appendix no. 1 and 2. The old tower built by James V is on the bottom left of the plan. Being built in earlier period, one can tell from the plan that the old tower has slightly different alignment with greater wall thickness as compared to the rest of the building. The first floor accommodates all the main functions for the royals, including bed chambers for the King and Queen, drawing rooms, dining room, throne room and the gallery. The gallery is the largest room of all, running the full depth of the main building. Portraits of the Royals over different periods are housed in the gallery.

THE STUART KINGS AS PATRON OF ART AND CLASSICISM

Before ending the Part I of this essay, it has to trace the history of the Stuart Kings to give clue on classicism as embodied in Holyrood Palace. King James I/James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, became the King of England in 1603 upon union of the Scottish and English crowns. James I was the grandfather of Charles II. Being an enthusiastic art lover, James I hired the gifted English architect, Inigo Jones to build the Banqueting House in WhiteHall by 1619. Inigo Jones was famed to be the ideal Vitruvian architect. Grand Tours of Jones in Italy and France gave him invaluable experience on Renaissance architecture. It was Jones who first brought Palladian style to the United Kingdom. His work on Banqueting House was considered the absolute refinement of Renaissance architecture. Its simplicity with good proportion gave the building an air of grandness and pure elegance. Charles I inherited the throne from James I in 1625. Despite being an unpopular King, Charles I carried on the tradition of patronage of great art. He had the ceiling of Banqueting Hall richly decorated with the frescoes by Peter Paul Ruben, and the original artworks are miraculously still in their place on the ceiling these days. Therefore, it was under these rich cultural influences from the previous generations that had brought classicism to Holyrood Palace.

PART II - EDINBURGH'S NEW TOWN

ENTRY FOR COMPETITION BY JAMES CRAIG

Nick-named as ‘Auld Reekie’, Edinburgh had degenerated into a cramped and filthy place with tenements in poor sanitation conditions by the advent of 18th century. To prevent exodus of the rich from the dense old town to other cities in England, the Scottish ruling authority saw it a paramount need to carry out plan for new town development to the north of the medieval old town. On the other hand, the implementation of new town would act as a magnet to attract investment and intellectuals to the capital.

A competition was held by the Town Council to invite entries for development proposal of the new town in 1766. The entry from the young and promising architect, James Craig, was accepted. It was worth to mention one of the influential figures sitting in the competition committee, Robert Adam who was the son of the notable Scottish architect William Adam. The architectural training of Robert Adam could be traced back to his formative years in Italy and studies of roman antiquities which provided him a solid understanding in the use of classical orders. By early 1770s, Robert Adam had actively involved as a re-owned architect in the parallel Georgian development of London. As a neo-classical architect, he influenced the outcome of the competition for the Edinburgh’s new town to a great extent.

There were different versions of plan from James Criag before arriving at the final proposal. One of the versions submitted was shown in Fig. 5 above dated in 1774. The most prominent feature of this variant design was having a double circus at the centre of the proposed new town. It made one to recall the splendid Circus and Royal Crescent of the newly fashionable Bath at the time preceding Edinburgh’s new town development. The circus symbolized the utopian vision of Craig for a divine order and universal harmony in the representation of classical geometry. Its significance was re-affirmed by the portrait of James Craig who was holding a compass over the portion of circus in the plan for new town (Fig. 6). Unfortunately, it might be for reason of cost and time implication in the implementation of the circus that this variant version was eventually dropped out in favour for the axial and rectilinear grid proposal.

Fig. 7 is the town plan drafted by James Craig in 1768 which laid down the final blue print for the Georgian new town development of Edinburgh. It can easily tell the grid plan owns its origin to Renaissance. It was conceived in symmetrical layout along a central axis, George Street which terminated in a square at either end of the town. The peripheral streets, Queen Street and Princes Street, are both having view to greenery and open space on one of their sides. The George Square on the left hand side of the map was later renamed as Charlotte Square to avoid any confusion in name.

MAPPING OUT THE NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PHASES

The appendices from 09 to 16 include town maps and historical photos of Edinburgh in different periods which illustrate the evolution of the city and its surrounding areas through phases. My hand sketch at Appendix 17 clearly summarizes this progress of town development of Edinburgh in its unique topographic setting. They are meant to read together in this essay to give a wholesome picture how the Georgian new town has expanded on the theme of classicism. Fig 8 above is a historical drawing in 1780 which depicts the linear uniformity of the new town in contrast with the irregular silhouette of the old town. At the centre of the picture is the north bridge which was constructed in between 1763 to 1772 to facilitate the new town development. The land near the north bridge connection with the new town was firstly developed as shown in the map of 1773 at Appendix 10. Titles of ownership to lands were shown in the map. Later the new town further expanded towards the north in the subsequent years. The second extension witnessed with the realization of the Royal Circus which forged another linear axis along Great King Street (Appendix 11). This helped to firmly establish the classical appearance of the new town development. On the other side of the new town near the North Loch, the Scott Monument was completed in 1844 at Prince’s Street and became the landmark to greet visitors upon their arrival at the Waverley train station of Edinburgh. The picture in appendix 15 for the roof garden of the Waverley market by the train station showed how a geometrical pattern of skylights and vents once existed in 1914 that gave an impression of classical podium garden.

DUNDAS HOUSE AT ST. ANDREW SQUARE

Dundas House is located at No. 36 St. Andrew Square. It is chosen for detailed study because of its belonging to the city’s very first development in the new town. As shown in study below, it signifies how the classical theme was being taken up by the architects in the implementation of new town plan to align with its initial concept. The pictures in Appendices from no. 18 to 21 are photos of Dundas house and its associated structures. It was designed by the Swedish-Scottish architect, William Chambers, and was originally built between 1772 and 1774 as town house for Sir Laurence Dundas. It was set back from the St. Andrew Street with a private lawn in between the main building and the St. Andrew Square. A cast iron ornamental metal screen with featured street lighting was later installed at the front to separate the forecourt from the street (Appendix 20). The building was symmetrical, 3-storey and 5 bays with a portico entrance, a later addition to the façade in 1828. The centerline of the building sat along the axis of George Street that terminated on the other end of the new town with Charlotte Square and the West Register House, which was formerly known as the St. George’s Church opened in 1814. By 1827, the construction of Melville monument at the centre of St. Andrew square was completed to visually define the axis.

The building form was designed like an Italian palazzo. Its first prototype could be dated back to 1570 when Andrea Palladio, the Italian Renaissance architect of Vicenza, published his study for Villa Sarego alla Miega in his Four Books of Architecture (Appendix 24). The ground portion was finished with channeled masonry work. Openings were formed in flat arches with keystones. The masonry was of polished ashlar and the masonry works were credited to William Jamieson, the master mason. For its upper stories, four numbers of Corinthian pilasters at the central portion supported an entablature and a triangular pediment. Tympanum was decorated with intricate gilded mouldings of the Royal Arms for Bank of Scotland, which acquired the premises in 1825. A bank hall with a domed ceiling was added behind the building, an alteration and addition work carried out by the bank (Appendix 23).

The piano nobile had tall timber sashed windows topped with pediments, which stood in contrast to the square windows above with simple plain moulding. A horizontal band of fret moulding separated the two rows of windows. As shown in the proportional study in Fig. 10, the façade was finely proportioned in accordance with classical rules, creating a graceful outlook to the freestanding edifice.

By delving into the architectural history of England, we could find out the Marble Hill House being the predecessor of Dundas House (Appendix 25). As shown in the pictures at appendices, they shared great similarities in the façade treatment. Marble Hill House was built in 1724 to 1729 by the English architect, Roger Morris, in collaboration with Henry Herbert. It was a direct outcome of his study on the Palladian villa undertook by Morris, who first published the idealized image in the thesis, an essay in Defence of Ancient Architecture in 1728. Morris favoured a return to the ‘Beauty and Harmony” of the ancients, as opposed to the ‘Irregularity’ of the modern architecture, and to regain simplicity of the Palladian approach to architecture [3].

PART III CONSERVATION MECHANISM

The introduction of buildings control on skyline was crucial in safeguarding the silhouette of the city against any new development in the area. Various strategic topographic features are identified for view protection, including Arthur’s Seat and the Firth of Forth. View corridors and sky space concept are set out to provide planning control on any tall buildings development that may jeopardize the precious skyline of the city of Edinburgh. Besides, a comprehensive listing on properties into category A, B or C listed buildings and the designation of conservation areas will prohibit any demolition or alteration to historic buildings without the consent of the Town Council.

The legislatures under enforcement by the authority include the town and country planning acts, the planning act for building and conservation areas, and the ancient monuments and archaeological areas act. The legislatures are also accompanied by guidelines on the protection and management for the historic environment in Scotland. The skyline policy is covered under the local city plan and management plan for Edinburgh. [4]

CONCLUSION

Being the living capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh has a rich cultural and vibrant intellectual life. This cultural significance attracts huge numbers of visitors annually to the benefit of its economy. The Edinburgh Festival is a cultural event to be held every summer to showcase hundreds of young artists. There is nothing better than in the summer to enjoy performance of the buskers in the picturesque old town. In keeping with the spirit of the city, the preservation of built heritage has become the utmost concern of the Edinburgh authority. With its unique timeless charm, this generates the imperative to establish control measures to prevent its classical architecture from damage due to any unruly development. This essay is written with this aim to help to identify its character and significance through tracing the architectural and construction history so that corresponding policies could be formed in place for the future management of the city.