St George's Edinburgh

The New Town Project was designed with political overtones. The core street was to be called George Street. The squares at either end named for the patron saints of the united countries - St Andrew' Square and St George's Square (later changed to become Charlotte Square). The main east to west streets on either side were to be Queen Street and Princes Street - with the little streets in between Thistle and Rose Streets. The north to south streets included Hanover Street and Frederick Street.

All in all this was to be a very big Hanoverian stamp on growing Edinburgh.

Part of the design was to build two highly grand churches at either end - St George's in St George Square and St Andrew's in St Andrew Square - they would proved the magnificent conclusion to all the Georgian splendour of the new buildings in between.

St George's was built - and this is it. They discovered they couldn't get the land at the other end where the Royal Bank stands. Instead the tucked St Andrews into the north side of George Street. Nowadays, of course, the two churches are united into that building to become St Andrew's and St Georges Parish Church (recently joined by St George's West church too.)

So what about this building? It was originally designed by Adam - but then modified by Robert Reid (1774 - 1856) who was the King's architect and surveyor for Scotland from 1827 to 1839. He is responsible for a number of public works particularly the façade of Parliament Square in Edinburgh, which houses the Court of Session. The church was built on a grand scale, with an Ionic portico, Corinthian colonnade and an elegant, green copper dome, topped with a gilded lantern. The dome is said to be a scaled-down copy of that of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Since the early 1960's it has been used by the government as West Register House - although big changes in February this year sees records moving to General Register House. I'm not sure what the future is for this building. The Keeper of Records is playing his cards close to his chest. I suspect it may become the fanciest storeroom in town.