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http://www.jstor.org From Caesarea to Athens Greek Revival Edinburgh and the Question of Scottish Identity within the Unionist State

JOHN LOWREY University of Edinburgh

he description of Edinburgh as "The Athens of become so; and joined to the Advocates Library,gives an advan- the North" is one that gained common currency tage which this opulentCity of Londonis hardlyable to exhibit.1 in the early nineteenth century and still proudly graces the city'spromotional and tourist literature.It is the Although the establishmentof a riding academymay seem purposeof this paperto analyzewhat it was that Edinburgh a rathertenuous basis on which to compareEdinburgh with was trying to achieve by presenting itself in this way and Athens, the general thrust of Ramsay'scomments reflects why the Athenianimage was both relevant and important. an awarenessof the enormouschanges that had takenplace Of course, the happy combination of topographyand cul- in the culturallife of the city in the eighteenth century.The tural achievementthat ultimatelyunderpins the accoladeis focus here is on both the intellectual and the gentlemanly well known. The idea that one of the great Europeancen- aspects of education and is part of a general interest in ters of the Enlightenment-the city of David Hume, improvementand the polite arts that was so much part of William Robertson, and Robert Adam-might pursue a Enlightenment Edinburgh.2 claim as a culturalcapital, is perhapsunsurprising. Indeed, Ramsay and Dick were, of course, natives of Edin- the earliest references connecting Edinburgh and Athens burgh, and we might expect them to view their city in a are based mainly on the intellectual distinction of the city. favorablelight. However, Edinburgh enjoyed a very high In January 1762, the Scottish artist Allan Ramsay wrote reputation for its intellectual achievementsin this period, from London to his friend Sir William Dick of Prestonfield perhapsmost famouslycelebrated in the observationby Mr. about recent developmentsin Edinburgh: Amyat, "King's Chemist, a most sensible and agreeable Englishman,"who stated, "Here I Stand at what is called The setting up an Academyfor Ridingis an excellent design. A few the Cross of Edinburgh [i.e., the Mercat Cross], and can, more such institutionswill renderEdinburgh the Athens of Britain; in a few minutes take fifty men of genius and learning by where instead of the awkwardand monkish pedantryof the old- the hand."3More importantly, for the purposes of this fashioned Universities,young gentlemen will be initiatedinto the paper,such accomplishmentsuggested to at least one out- principlesof useful knowledge and at the same time exercised in side observerthat Edinburghand Athens could be appro- allthose liberalaccomplishments which qualifya man to appearin priately linked. In July 1761, Alexander Carlyle wrote to the distinguishedspheres of Life.The new Libraryproposed to be Gilbert Elliot of Minto in London that the Irish writer established by the RoyalCollege of Physiciansmust be likewise a Thomas Sheridan had told him that "Edinburgh is the greatadvantage to the learnedas well as to such as are desirousto Athens of Great Britain, . . . and we believe him."4 Figure1 HughWilliam Williams, west side of the Parthenon,c.1817

Edinburgh,therefore, was a civilized and progressive also betweenAthens and Stirling,a city that sits in the same city, but its connectionswith Athenswere also basedon the river valley as Edinburgh and also has an acropolis at its fact that, topographically and in its general planning, it core: "... there is a considerablelikeness between Athens remindedreturning grand tourists of Athens. A numberof and Stirling as seen from the SacredWay.... From every authorshave traced this connection back to the same year other point, it bears a strikingresemblance to Edinburgh, as Ramsay'sobservations, to 1762, with the claimthatJames especiallyas seen from the Braidand RavelstonHills" (Fig- Stuartremarked on the similarityin the prefaceto Antiqui- ures 2, 3).9 tiesofAthens.s In fact, there is no mention of Edinburghin Williams is a key figure in the establishmentof Edin- the first edition of Stuartand Revett'sbook,6 and it seems burgh'sAthenian identity and, indeed, is creditedwith coin- fairlyclear that the topographicalconnection was firstmade ing the phrase "The Athens of the North."10Not only did in the early nineteenth century.7There are two important he influencepeople throughhis work,he also reflectedideas sources here. One, dating from 1818, is the Cambridge and developmentsin Edinburghin the crucialdecade of the geologist and antiquarian Edward Daniel Clarke, who 1820s. It has been correctly pointed out that at the time wrote that the relationshipbetween Athens and the Piraeus Edinburghbegan to developits Hellenic pretensions,it had was somewhat similarto that between Edinburghand the little architecturaljustification for doing so.11We now think port of Leith: "Edinburghexhibits a very correct model of of Edinburgh as one of the great neoclassical and Greek a Grecian city and with its Acropolis,Town, and Harbour, Revivalcities, but in 1762, when Ramsaywas writing, the it bearssome resemblanceto Athens and the Piraeus."8 New Town hadyet to be designedand little else of any con- The second source is a remarkableindividual named sequence had been built. Even by 1820, although the New Hugh William Williams, an Edinburghlandscape painter Town was well advancedand growingfast, the majorGreek who undertooka grandtour of Italy and Greece in 1817/18 Revival buildings in the city had yet to be built. One of (Figure 1). On his return he embarkedon a series of proj- Williams'scontributions was to move the debate on from ects over the following ten years that reflectedhis tremen- the general,topographical connections between Edinburgh dous enthusiasm for all things Greek. These included a and Athens to the much more specific and architectural.In two-volume work, Travelsin Italy, Greeceand the Ionian the conclusion to his 1820 book, he wrote: Islands(1820); an exhibitionof watercolorsin Edinburghin 1822, and, as a spin-off from that, a further publication, . . the leading persons in this city are still contemplating mag- SelectViews in Greece(1827-1829), all of which earnedhim nificent works, and are ever ready to give the preference to the nickname"Grecian" Williams. superior designs, with the view of giving a classical air to the As a landscapeand topographicalartist, Williams was modern Athens! Is it too much, then, to expect that a facsim- very sensitive to connections between the landscapes of ile, or restoration,of the Temple of Minerva,may yet crown the Scotland and Greece. Like Clarke, he made the general Calton Hillas a monument, to proclaimto distant ages not only connection, in the combination of mountains, plain, sea, the militaryglory, but the pure taste which distinguishes our and acropolis,not only betweenAthens and Edinburgh,but country in the present? Is it too much to expect, that an enlight-

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 137 Figure 2 Hugh WilliamWilliams, Athens from the east, c. 1817

Figure 3 Thomas Shepherd, Edinburghfrom Craigleith,from Thomas Shepherd, Modern Athens... (London,1829)

ened patronage may call up genius, kindredto that of ancient east side of the New Town, between the city and the port of times, and may direct our native talents to efforts, similar to Leith (Figure 4). This proposed building and this location those which gave splendour to the Age of Pericles?12 were to prove crucial to the development of the Greek Revival in Edinburgh and in Scotland as a whole. In this, Williams was involving himself in an important Williams's enthusiasm for Greece was shared by many debate in Scotland at this time about the siting and nature of his fellow citizens, and the period between the end of of a new National Monument, which is discussed in more the Napoleonic Wars and the early Victorian period saw a detail below. For the moment, however, the important flourishing of Grecian fashion that found its expression not points are, first, that the modern Athens was to stake its only in the fine Greek Revival architecture that was erected claim in the most direct and obvious way possible, by build- in Edinburgh and other Scottish cities, but in many other ing (or, as Williams says, "restoring") the Parthenon in the aspects of life as well, affecting everything from hairdress- Scottish capital; second, the new Athens was to have a new ing to tea sets.13 In this, there are strong echoes of the acropolis. Just as Edinburgh had shifted its emphasis from enthusiasm for the French gout Grecof some fifty years ear- the ridge of the Old Town to the gently shelving landscape lier, although a major difference, through what has been of the New Town, so the new acropolis was to move from called some "imaginative wishful thinking,"14 was that the the Castle Rock in the Old Town to the Calton Hill on the fashion of the 1820s was not only a matter of individual

138 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 Figure 4 George Meikle Kemp, Calton Hill,Edinburgh, c.1830

taste but became a question of the fundamentalidentity of in which we live."17There is very little indication,however, the city. Thus, when John Britton collaboratedon a series that the motivationin Edinburghhad anythingto do with of views of Edinburgh with the engraverThomas Shep- contemporaryevents in Greece, far less the architectureof herd, they were published in 1829 as ModernAthens! Dis- the new Greek capital,which was being built at much the playedin a Seriesof Views:Or, Edinburghin the Nineteenth same time as Edinburgh'sGrecian buildings. There is no Century.The emphasiswas firmlyon what was portrayedas doubt that there was awareness,sympathy, and even active the modernityof the project;Edinburgh was to be the new supportfor the Greek cause,but the causeitself was not the Athens, the cultural,literary, intellectual, and, increasingly, motivation behind Edinburgh'squest for identity.18Edin- the architecturalreplacement for the Pericleanruin. There burgh'sconcept of Athenswas rooted in the Enlightenment is even the implication that Edinburgh had surpassed tradition of Scottish historiographyand in an enthusiasm Athens and that the replacementwas in some ways superior for the classicalpast. to the original. This is found, almost inevitably,in "Gre- Historiography had been a major obsession of the cian"Williams's description of the topographyof the two Scottish Enlightenment. David Hume's famous dictum, cities, when he writes that the view of Athens from the sea "This is the historical age and we are the historical peo- "is extremely like Edinburgh from the Firth of Forth, ple,"19was a referenceto the importanceof historyin Scot- though certainly the latter is considerably superior."'1 land'sattempts to understanditself in the years following Moreover,the image was not simply related to the locality the Union of Parliamentswith Englandin 1707. One result and the architecture but also to the people. Members of of this was what has been termed "conjecturalhistory," that Edinburgh'selite society were the "Modern Athenians" is, a historiography that was based on the idea of the whom BenjaminCrombie celebratedin a series of publi- progress and development of peoples, which could be cations in the 1830s and 1840s.16 understoodby cross-culturalreference, allowing the lessons This idea of the modernityof Edinburgh,and its rela- of one people in a particulartime to inform our under- tionship to Athens, is worth considering in a little more standingof a differentpeople in anothertime. For example, detail,not least becauseat the very time that Edinburghwas the historianJohn Logan explainedthe move from barbar- discussing the appropriatenessof the Athenian analogy, ity to civilizationin the following terms: Greece was embarkingon a bloody war of independence that led eventually to the creation of the modern Greek The first institutions take their origins from violence and disor- state. Architecturally,one result of that in the 1830s and der. The depredations and robbery committed in barbarous laterwas the remodelingof Athens in a conscious quest for times naturallylead to leagues and confederacies, for common an appropriateidentity that would be both "equalwith the safety and defence. Such an union among the five nations of ancientfame and glory of the city andworthy of the century Canadagave them an ascendant over one half of America.20

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 139 That kind of historiographical method makes the "Youcall yourself Athenians while you know nothing that the idea of interpreting Edinburgh in terms of Athens quite Atheniansthought worth knowing,and dare not show your noses understandable, and, given the city's record of achieve- before the civilisedworld in the practice of any one art in which ment from the mid eighteenth to the early nineteenth they were excellent. ModernAthens sir! The assumption is a per- century, the idea that Edinburgh had actually supplanted sonal affrontto every man who has a Sophocles in his library."25 Athens and become the "modern Athens" also begins to make sense. This, of course, brings us back to the real However, this mixture of unease, ridicule, and metro- modern Athens. The implications of Edinburgh'sclaim, politan pique has not seriouslyaffected the Athenianmyth occasionally made explicit by people like Williams, was in Edinburgh'shistory, and this is at least partlybecause of that modern Edinburgh was superior to modern Athens the buildingsthat were erected in the city in the firsthalf of and the worthy successor to the Periclean heritage. In the nineteenth century(most of which had not been built at this, Edinburgh fitted into the general British attitude of the time many of the criticismswere made). Because,what- the time. Certainly, one author has specifically identified ever the original justification for linking the city with Williams, who was so important to the Athenian preten- Athens, it is now seen as a reflection of Edinburgh'simpor- sions of Edinburgh, as someone who was entirely unsym- tance in the history of the Greek Revival.Architectural his- pathetic to the plight of the modern Greeks: "He brought torians tend to use the epithet "Athensof the North" as a back from his travels the single judgement that he was convenient term to describeEdinburgh in the period when proud to be British, and the wish to erect a facsimile of most of its great classicalmonuments and public buildings the Parthenon at Edinburgh."21 were erected.The nonarchitecturalbackground is acknowl- It could be arguedthat, historiographically,at least, the edged and can easily be accommodated.The topographical idea of identifyingEdinburgh with Athenswas anythingbut similaritiescan be interpretedwithin the early-nineteenth- modern because it was based on a historicalmethod, con- centuryinterest in the Picturesque,which is undoubtedlya jecturalhistory, that belonged firmlyto the eighteenth cen- major factor in the Greek Revival in Edinburgh.26The tury.However, it is one of the main strandsof the argument intellectualbackground can be seen in many ways as a per- presentedhere that the idea was indeed based in the eigh- fectly reasonablereflection by Edinburghon the glories of teenth century and was the culminationof tendencies that its Enlightenment heyday.27So convenient has this tag can be traced back at least sixty or seventy years. The new become, and so accuratelydoes it now denote a particular history of the early nineteenth century was somewhat dif- period in Edinburgh'sarchitectural history, that terms like ferent, more antiquarianand even more romantic.22This "ModernAthens" and "ModernAthenians" are quite com- antiquarianapproach also had an architecturalsignificance monly used by contemporaryauthors, even in the contextof in that it underlay the emerging Scots Baronial style of buildings and artifactsthat are not, in any obvious sense, architecture.The relationshipbetween Scots Baronialand Greek Revival.28 the Greek Revivalis consideredbelow, and the main line of There is, however, a case for analyzing a little more argumentis developed to show that, despite being histori- closely what the city of Edinburghwas saying about itself, ographicallyredundant, the Greek Revivalin general and consciously and unconsciously, by adopting an Athenian the notion of the "ModernAthens" in particularcontinued identity,just as there is a case for questioningthe motivation to have relevance. behind the Scottish Greek Revivalas a whole. The peculiar Not everyonewas comfortablewith this conceit. Lord affinityof the Scots with the Greekstyle has frequentlybeen Cockburn, one of the great observers of the customs and commented on, althoughthis has simply been explainedby mannersof the citizens of Edinburghin the first half of the a combinationof "thechilly northerntemperament," on the nineteenthcentury, dismissed the idea as "apiece of affected one hand, and religious conviction (i.e., anti-Gothic Pres- flattery,"23and English writers, or, more specifically,Lon- byterianism),on the other.29Quite what the connection is don writers, were particularlyscathing about this upstart between the chilly Calvinistnorth and the cradle of West- city'spretensions. Robert Mudie, who visited Edinburghat ern civilizationin the sunny Aegean is never explained. the time of George IV'svisit in 1822, launched a vitupera- A rather more analyticalapproach has been taken by tive attack on what he saw as the failingsof both the "Mod- some Americanscholars, notably Roger Kennedy,who has ern Athens" and its citizens, covering everything from drawna useful distinctionbetween the Greek Revivalin the architectureto literature.24Thomas Love Peacock,writing United States,in whichhe stressesthe politicalimportance of in 1829, was even more dismissivein his CrotchetCastle, in the style to the newly emergingnation, and that in Scotland, which one of the characterssays: where, he argues,the style had no politicalsignificance:

140 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 Though Edinburghdelighted in calling itself "the Athens of the North"throughout the RevolutionaryAge, Scotsmen, including scholars, are apt to look baffled or even annoyed when asked about the political implications of Greek forms. There do not seem to have been any; ... The filaments of ideas tying the American Greek Revivalto that of Scotland-the only nation in which it was as emphatic, conspicuous, and long lasting as in the United States-were not political.30

While it is certainly true, however, that the Greek Revival in Scotland did not have the same political over- tones as it did in America,and that the connectionsbetween the two were not political, there is certainlynothing either bafflingor annoyingto this Scotsmanin the suggestionthat both the Greek Revival in general and the idea of Edin- burgh as Athens in particularheld some kind of political Figure5 ArchibaldElliot, design for NationalMonument, Edinburgh, significance,albeit a different one from that of the Greek 1819 Revivalin the United States. Indeed, it will be arguedthat it is precisely its political significancethat gave the notion of Modern Athens its relevance and its right to claim a specificpolitical symbolism in particularbuildings, but fun- modernity. damentallyit was a questionof establishingan identitywithin As our previous discussion has shown, "Modern the political realities of the British state. That question Athens"emerged as an idea in the earlynineteenth century, becamefocused on Edinburgh,as the capitalof a nationthat in the yearsimmediately following the defeatof Napoleonic had lost its statehood,and within the city it becamefocused France. That political context is extremely important for on a particularlocation, namely, the Calton Hill, the acrop- Britain as a whole but it came to have a particularsignifi- olis of the Modern Athens and, in some senses, a national cance for Scotland and for Edinburgh. The post- Valhallafor Scotland.At an even more detailed level, the Napoleonic era was the period when the British state debatecenters around one proposedbuilding, the National emerged as the great nineteenth-century superpower. Monument to the Scottish Servicemen killed in the Therefore, far from the associations of political liberty, Napoleonic Wars. The decision to build a Scottish monu- republicanism,and revolution that have been associated ment, in additionto one in London,was takenin 1816,when with the AmericanGreek Revival,31the Greek Revivalin James Gillespie Graham designed a triumphal arch. A Scotlandtakes place in the context of empire and conquest. broadlyRoman theme was also adoptedby ArchibaldElliot The defeat of France was, at one and the same time, the in his designfor a monumentincorporating a church(Figure suppression of a dangerous revolutionaryidea and of an 5) and ultimately based on the Pantheon. Apart from the emerging rival imperial power. Recent British historical huge ambitionof this design,it mayhave been compromised writing has presented this period as a vindication of the also by the generalsimilarity of its planto that of the double Union of Parliamentsin 1707. It was in this period that the churchof Les Invalidesin Paris.By 1821, afterdebate about idea of Britainas a United Kingdom came together,forged both the site and the natureof the monumentitself, it was in the heat of battle in the manywars againstthe French in decidedto builda replicaof the Parthenonon top of the Cal- the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.32The most ton Hill. The buildingwas foundedin 1822, and an Act of recent architecturalhistory of this period also presentsthe Parliamentwas passed in 1823 allowingthe workto go ahead Greek Revival and Romantic Classicismin general within and setting up the RoyalAssociation of Contributorsto the the context of the Union and of Britishimperialism.33 National Monument of Scotland,whose committeewas to To suggest,however, that the politicalsignificance of the overseethe project.The architectswere C. R. Cockerell,the Greek Revivalwas connected with Britain'simperial ambi- acknowledgedexpert on the Parthenon,and W. H. Playfair, tions is insufficientto explaineither why the Greek Revival who went on to be one of the most importantand prolificof was so importantin Scotlandor why Edinburghbecame so ScottishGreek Revival architects. The outcome of the proj- firmlyidentified with Athens. The importantissue here is not ect was, in most assessments,a failure;by 1829 the building so muchwhether Greek Revival architecture in Scotlandhad was abandonedwith only twelve columns standing(Figure

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 141 from the Romantic Classicism of the Greek Revival to medieval and ultimately Scots Baronialstyles of architec- ture, which he pioneeredat his house of Abbotsford,in the Scottish Borders(Figure 7). Before consideringthe detail of the Hellenic vision of Edinburgh,therefore, it is importantto examinethis alter- native and considersome of its implicationsfor Edinburgh as Athens and the problem of reconciling a Scots Baronial identity with a Grecianone. One approach to this, and perhaps a useful starting point, is not to attempt to reconcile them. The Baronial Revival,in general,came later than the Greek and substan- tially replacedit in the second half of the nineteenth cen- tury. At first, following on from the example of Scott at Figure 6 C. R. Cockerelland W. H. Playfair,National Monument, Abbotsford, it affected country house architecture, but Edinburgh,1822-1829 graduallyit developedinto a vigorousVictorian urban style. Nowhere was this more evident than in Edinburgh,where, from the 1850s onward,the Scots Baronialstyle was seen as 6), and the picturesque"ruin" has stood ever since as testi- the appropriatemodel for the improvement of the Old mony to the "prideand povertyof Scotland."34 Town, the original medieval burgh that had degenerated The questionof identitywe are concernedwith here is into slums since the constructionof the New Town for the one that has been examinedfrom time to time, with partic- upper classes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth ularreference to this building.A complicatingfactor is that, centuries. at the very time Edinburghwas pursuingits Hellenic vision, It is simplistic, however, to argue that one identity another, in many ways more potent, identity myth was replaced another in the nineteenth century. The most being created.Early-nineteenth-century Romanticism, rep- importantpoint is that both visions of an appropriatehis- resented by the writings of Sir Walter Scott, encourageda torical identity existed side by side, and in Scotland as a much more specificallyScottish sense of identity through whole the Greek Revivalpersisted until well into the sec- the study of history, landscape,and literature.35In archi- ond half of the century,alongside the BaronialRevival. To tecturalterms, Scott has some responsibilityfor a shift away explain this, we need to examine what they had in com-

Figure 7 WilliamAtkinson with Sir WalterScott, Abbotsford House, Roxburghshire,1817-1823, from Thomas Shepherd, Modern Athens...

142 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 mon. It was not the case that the BaronialRevival sprang That same sense of the distinctivenessyet interconnected- from a Scott-inspiredRomanticism in contradistinctionto ness of the two partsof the city and their relationshipwith the classical revival. In fact, although its roots may have the Picturesque is also found in one of Edinburgh'smost lain in the Enlightenment, the Greek Revivalwas also an famous, yet most critical, commentators, Robert Louis aspect of the Romantic Movement, and in a number of Stevenson, who commented on how, on the one hand, the important respects, the Scots Baronial and the Greek New Town "spreadits draughtyparallelograms ... on the Revival can be seen to have much in common. One area opposing hill" (i.e., opposite the Old Town) and yet Old that was particularlyrelevant in Edinburghwas the contri- Town and New Town "reactin a picturesquesense, and the bution each made to the Picturesquequalities of the city. In one is the making of the other."38 the earlynineteenth centurythere was something of a reac- New and old, classicaland medieval,Greek Revivaland tion against the great formalityof the original New Town Scots Baronialare all, therefore,aspects of the Picturesque layout (Figure 8). The focus of this concern was the archi- in Edinburgh and were appreciated as such in the nine- tectural development of the Calton Hill, which was also teenth century.Moreover, there was an even stronger idea the site of some of the most important Greek Revival that linked both Greek and Baronialrevivals. The Greek buildings in the city.36Greek Revival architecture, espe- Revivalwas partly based on the idea that Greek architec- cially in combinationwith the unique topographyof Edin- ture representedthe originalor primitivesource of all clas- burgh, was a very satisfactory vehicle for notions of the sical architecture. A similar concern with the primitive Picturesque.Similarly, in the Old Town in particular,Scots underpinned the Romantic interest in Scotland. Scott's Baronial was also seen as an appropriatearchitecture, in image of Scotlandas a noble, simple, and primitiveland was terms of its associationsand its visualqualities, for that par- rathersimilar to the idea of Greece evoked by the neoclas- ticular setting. The two styles could therefore exist along- sical interest in Greek architecture. Both were in some side one another and were thought, each in its way, to senses concerned with a primitiveyet Golden Age of their contribute to the Picturesquequalities of the city. Signifi- respective cultures, and both had their separate architec- cantly, however, some of their effect was considered to turalstyles that evoked that age. In this way the Scots Baro- derive from their contrast, and therefore we rarely find nial Revivaland the Greek Revivalwere obviously distinct them mixed together in the same location. Broadlyspeak- and yet had elements in common. The primitive histories ing, and with a few exceptions, Greek Revivalwas associ- were also imagined to have been linked through the epic ated with the New Town and Scots Baronialwith the Old poetry of Ossian, a supposed ancient Gaelic bardwho had Town. There were good symbolic reasons for this, relating been "rediscovered"byJames Macpherson in the 1760s and to the contrast between new and old, enlightened and whose works sparked a debate linking ancient Scottish unenlightened, but there was a very clear understanding Highlandculture with other oral traditions,particularly that that it was this sharpdivision between the classicalnew and of Greece, Homer specifically.39The works of Ossian are the medieval old that greatly enhanced the Picturesque sometimes seen as the beginning of the Romantic interest qualities of the city. Two examples will suffice to demon- in Scottish history and thereforeare a link with Scott'slater strate this understanding. works.They are certainlyan aspectof that very eighteenth- The firstis in the work of William Henry Playfair,who century progressiveview of history discussed earlier, and in 1822 built the Royal Institution on a key site at the foot thus this concern with the primitiveand the ancient, along of the Mound, the earthen ramp that connected the ele- with the notion of a progressivecivilization, links Scotland vated Old Town to Princes Street,the principalstreet of the with Greece and provides a common base for the Greek New Town (Figure 9). When the opportunity came to Revivaland the Scots Baronial. expand this building in 1832, a rival architect, William Perhapsmost importantof all, for the purposesof this Burn, argued that Playfair'soriginal building should be paper and the argumentthat the Greek Revivaldid have a demolished and reerected in a more prominent position, political context in Scotland,is that these two architectural higherup the Mound. Playfair'sresponse was made in terms revivalsare also linkedin that, arguably,they are two aspects of the Picturesque: of a political identity reflected in architecture.To explore this notion furtherit is necessaryto return to the National I should have thought, indeed, that to such a position only a lofty Monument proposal of 1822 and consider it in relation to buildingwould have been suitable;and that in architecturalform two other nineteenth-centuryproposals and their interpre- and characterit ought to harmonisewith the picturesqueobjects tation by Scottish historians. with which it would be broughtinto immediate combination.37 Among the great edifices of the Scots Baronial are a

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 143 LOOZ 3Nnr 'z:o9 / Hvsr ~L q6Jnqu!p3 Io UAAOMAAN leU!6!Jo O MAAAle!IeV 8 aeinB! Figure 9 W. H. Playfair,Royal Institution,Edinburgh, from Thomas Shepherd, ModernAthens.. .

Figure 10 George Meikle Kemp, Scott Monument, Edinburgh, 1840-1846

Figure 11 J. T. Rochead, Wallace Monument, Stirling,1863-1869

number of monuments. These include the monument to Scott himself, in Edinburgh, by George Meikle Kemp (1840-1846) in a Gothic style derived from Melrose Abbey (Figure 10), and the monument to William Wallace, in Stir- ling (1863-1869), a fantastic Scots Baronial confection by the Glasgow architect J. T. Rochead (Figure 11). Both of these are in some senses "national monuments" and there- fore provide us with a significant contrast to the Grecian proposal of 1822. To some authors, this represents a confi- dent assertion of Scottishness and a rejection of an essen- tially alien (i.e., Greek) culture as a measure of Scottish identity. One author sees the failure of the National Mon- ument project as a convenient symbol of the rejection "of that cultural timidity which has made Scotland 'almost afraid to know itself' since the Union of Parliaments in 1707."40 Another sees the whole National Monument episode as a somewhat timorous attempt to portray a North British identity in deference to the imperial power of Lon- don and England: "The National Monument on Calton Hill is essentially a symbol of England/Britain's 'glorious past'-but an attempt was made to foist it on to Scotland's heritage."41 The argument that Scotland could better explore its identity through its own history, architectural and other- wise, is, in some ways, obvious and incontestable. However, the situation is not as clear-cut as these two authors suggest. First, although the unfinished National Monument is a

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 145 tempting symbol of the end of an era, it is an equally con- for itself, and by implication for Scotland, was, strictly vincing symbol of the exact opposite because the National speaking, foreign or "alien."It was also closely connected Monument certainly does not represent the end of the with ideas about the unity of Great Britain as an imperial Greek Revival in Scotland but arguably the beginning. power. However, one of the problems with the notion of Almost every ScottishGreek Revivalbuilding of any impor- the Greek Revivalas something "un-Scottish,"arising from tance was built after the abortive Scottish Parthenon.The an inferioristlack of confidence in native culture, is that it combinationof Cockerell'sarchaeological knowledge, Play- ignores the essentialduality of Scottish identity after 1707. fair's fastidious attention to detail, and the Edinburgh To be both Britishand Scottish is the essentialcondition of masons'superb handling of the Craigleithstone used in its Scottish national character,and, in terms of nineteenth- construction produced a small and incomplete but never- century architecture,the coexistence of Greek Revivaland theless exact and correct model of ParthenonDoric, which Scots BaronialRevival architecture for most of the century was there as an inspirationto any architectwho wished to is an expressionof this duality;both expressidentity. The use it. Moreover,since argumentsabout its futureraged for concern of the Scots was to be both Scottish and British, most of the rest of the nineteenth century, and even into and the British identity, at a time of growing imperial the twentieth,it could be arguedthat in its incomplete state power,was one the Scots were quite happyto embrace.The it has provided a focus for debate about Greek Revival story of the National Monument itself is an exampleof this architectureand, indeed, about appropriatearchitecture for outlook in that, at the very time Sir Walter Scott was bring- national buildings.42 ing abouthis revolutionin Scottishculture, when, for exam- The idea that what made it alien was not so much that ple, he was exhorting the painter David Allan to look to it was Greekbut that it was English is also open to question. Scottish history for his subject matter,48he was perfectly While there was official toleration for the path that Edin- content to subscribeto the Athenianview of Edinburghand burgh chose for itself-for example,through the passingof was party to the decision to make the Scottish National an Act of Parliament to allow subscriptions to be raised Monument a copy of a Greek temple.49Similarly, Britton across the country and the empire43-there is no evidence and Shepherd'sModern Athens has many plates of historical of active encouragement.In a letter producedby the Com- architecturefrom around the city, but the juxtapositionis mittee of Subscriberson ChristmasDay 1821, to encourage not simply of the medievalpast with the Grecianpresent, it donations, it was noted that "we are by no means without also includesthe Baronialpresent since Abbotsfordis one of sanguineexpectations that assistancemay be given by Gov- the images of the Modern Athens presentedto the readers ernment,which has contributedmagnificently to a National (see Figures 7, 9). Monument for England."44Such expectationswere to be The inferioristthesis, therefore, is open to challenge, disappointed;financial support for the Edinburgh project and in the rest of this paper,by looking at the early-nine- seems alwaysto have been left to the Scottish Committee teenth-century situation in the context of the eighteenth rather than to the government. On the other hand, ratherthan the laternineteenth century, it will be suggested although various schemes were proposed for London, and that, far from adopting an inferioristposition, Edinburgh's very large sums of money were discussed in Parliament, identificationwith Athens was actually an expression of a nothing was ever built; the closest London ever came to a growing self-confidence that developed in the years after memorial was Trafalgar Square.45The single event that the Treatyof Union and culminatedin the earlynineteenth most clearly indicated official approvalfor the Edinburgh century.It was essentiallyan issue of identity,about the way monument was the foundation ceremony, planned for that Edinburghtried to portrayitself, or even define itself, George IV's state visit to Scotlandin 1822. The official lit- in relation to its past;in relationto its recent achievements; eratureis very carefulto state that this was carriedout under in relation to Scotland, England, Britain, and the empire; his auspices,46but the monarch,in fact, was very conspicu- and, perhapsmost importantof all, in relation to London. ous by his absence,preferring to go shooting on the nearby Unsurprisingly, in an eighteenth- and early-nineteenth- estate of one of his Scottish noblemen.47 centurycontext, much of the language(including the archi- In none of this is there any evidence of a government, tectural language) of this debate was classical-sometimes or English, attempt to "foist" anything onto Scotland; Roman and sometimes Greek. indeed, we have already seen that there was a certain To demonstratethis, four main areaswill be discussed. amount of resentment-among sections of the London First, we will consider the proposals to improve the city literati,at least-at Edinburgh'spresumption. It is certainly published in 1752 by Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto. Second, true, of course, that the identity Edinburghwas claiming we will reviewJamesCraig's plan for the firstNew Town of

146 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 1767, to see what it can tell us about the city's image of fulness of its situation,and its neighbourhoodto the Forth, itself; third, we will consider the contribution of Robert must no doubt be admitted as very favourable circum- Adamto the city of Edinburgh;finally, we will returnto the stances."52The area to the north of the city, with a large National Monument and the other buildingson the Calton areaof land gently sloping down to the river,is remarkably Hill. similarto the site of London as describedby Elliot, and the In the short-to-medium term, the Act of Union of implication is clear that Edinburgh,by expandingbeyond 1707 was a bad thing for Edinburgh.After political power, its historical boundaries,could enjoy a situation similarto in the form of a Scottish Parliamentand government, was that of London, with many of the benefits that accruedto lost, the aristocraticelite moved to London. Although the the English capital.Moreover, just as the beauty and pros- Union was unpopular across most of Scotland, the Edin- perity of London brought prosperityto the whole of South burgh mob that tried to prevent the treaty being signed Britain, so the development of the Scottish capital would perhapshad more cause than most to voice their objections bring benefits to the whole of North Britain. Edinburgh, because of the loss of status and economic power that therefore, would become a capital again, but firmlywithin resulted for their city.50It took until about 1750 before the context of union and thereforeoffering no kind of polit- Edinburghfelt secure and optimistic about the benefits of ical threat to London. union, while at the same time seeing an opportunity to Proposalstherefore is very much a document of the appeal to Scottish patriotismwith the idea that the coun- Union and very concernedwith the issue of identity-espe- try needed an appropriatecapital. ciallythat of Edinburgh.It is an identityfor the city and the In 1752, Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto publisheda pam- nation (Scotland)and, of necessity would have to be nego- phlet entitled ProposalsforCarrying on certainPublic Works in tiated in relation to London and England. It is therefore the Cityof Edinburgh.This importantdocument contained worth considering some of the context in which the pam- some of the key ideasfor the improvementand regeneration phlet was produced. of the city that dictated developments for the rest of the Part of this context was a degree of Anglicization of eighteenth century.Most important of all, of course, was Scottish culture, which affected many aspects of Scottish the proposal to extend the boundaries of the city and lay life. Probablythe most famousview of Scottish cultureand out new streets to the north and south-in other words, to of Scotland'srelationship with England in the post-Union build the New Town.Apart from the actualproposals them- era is that propoundedby SamuelJohnson. His observation selves, however, the pamphlet is importantbecause of the that the highway to London was the most welcome sight a analysisof Edinburgh'sproblems that it put forward.The Scotsman ever saw is not only a criticism of what he con- key issue here is the unfavorable comparison it drew sideredthe backwardnessof Scotland,but a referenceto the between Edinburgh and London and, by implication, way London was seen by many Scotsmen,namely, as a place between Scotlandand England. of opportunityand a standardagainst which developments The first section of the pamphlet makes the connec- in Scotlandwere measured.53This, of course,was precisely tion between the prosperityof a nation and the beauty,sit- how it was used by Elliot in his Proposals.Add to this John- uation, and amenityof its capital.In this connection it deals son'sgeneral view of Scotlandas a place on the very fringes with the contrastbetween Edinburghand London. London of civilization,in which the inhabitantsspoke a barbarous has every advantage:"Even upon the most superficialview, tongue, and it is clear that he had a bleak, if ratherAnglo- we cannot fail to remarkits healthful,unconfined situation, centric, view of Scottish culture.54 upon a large plain, gently shelving towardsthe Thames."s1 Implicit within this was the idea that England repre- Elliot goes on to praiseits beautifulstreets and squares,its sented a superior civilizationand that the Anglicizationof bridgesand greatpublic buildings, including the two houses Scottish culture was in reality a spreading of civilization of Parliamentand the Law Courts. One of the major ben- from south to north. In the context of the emerging British efits of all of this is the economic well-being, not only of empire, and among an educated population who were London, but of the whole of South Britain (i.e., England). trainedto think in terms of the classics,the resonancewith Edinburgh,by contrast,is presentedas a city of horrendous Rome and the idea of Romanizationmust have been quite congestion, with poor amenities and almost entirely lack- strong. To strengthen that, there was the immediate Scot- ing in the great public buildingswe would expect a capital tish backgroundin the yearsbefore Elliot producedhis Pro- city to have. On the other hand, unlike some other authors, posals.The end of the Jacobiterebellions, after the Battle of Elliot did not write off the situationof Edinburgh,beyond Cullodenin 1746, led to a period of pacificationand repres- the medieval walls that still encompassedit: "The health- sion in the Highlands of Scotland.One of the most impor-

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 147 Figure 12 James Craig,plan of the originalNew Town of Edinburgh, 1768

tant figures in this was General William Roy, who, from Roman,achievement was given, it was naturalfor people to 1747, was involvedin a huge militarysurvey of Scotland.It look to that examplewhen facedwith largeprojects, whether was partof a widerprocess that involvedthe constructionof legal, educational,or architectural.It was not seen as strange militaryroads, bridges, and forts all over the country,cul- to look to ancientRome for ideas and inspirationon how to minating in the construction of Fort George, a vast and deal with modernproblems. In 1719, for example,the min- intimidatingfortress near Inverness. utes of the Edinburghtown council subcommitteecharged However, while Roy was responsiblefor the first-ever with the responsibilityfor improvingthe water supply are ordnancesurvey, he also indulged his antiquarianinterests, suddenly enlivened by a paper from Lord Provost Drum- studying and excavatinga number of Roman or allegedly mond and City ArchitectAlexander McGill aboutbuilding a Romansites, and often markingthem on his Scottishmaps.55 Romanaqueduct between Edinburgh and the southernsub- So Roy, on the one hand,was excavatingand describingthe urb of Comiston.57 relics of a past imperialcivilization, and, on the other, was That general respect for antiquity and the lessons it partof a programof bridgingrivers, cutting and laying roads, might hold is, however,given an addedforce in the context buildingforts, and doing all the thingsa greatRoman general of mid-eighteenth-centuryBritain, for the reasonsjust dis- would have done to a conqueredpeople, who would subse- cussed.Moreover, the concept of Romanizationcould also quently enjoy the benefits of Roman civilization.In other be linked specificallyto urbanform. For example,in a con- words, the post-Jacobitesettlement can be seen as a kind of scious attemptto "civilize"the region, and specificallyfol- processof Romanization.That imageof the Highlandsis one lowing Roman precedent, the Commission for the thatwould have greatly appealed to Lowlanders,and the pro- Forfeited Estates tried to set up a number of colonies of posed new city in Edinburghcould also be seen as a symbol retiredsoldiers in variousplaces acrossthe Highlands.The of this spreadof civilization. idea, therefore,that the villages and the New Town can be This bringsus to our second areaof discussion,which is seen as part of a Romanizingor civilizingimpulse is not so closelyrelated to the first:the design of the New Town itself very far-fetched,and the grid-likeformation of their plans (Figure 12). A greatdeal has been writtenabout the compe- can be related to Roman cities and even Roman camps, in tition to build the New Town and on the sourcesof its plan, which there was great interest at this time. Of course, the althoughthe classicalaspects of the idea and the plan have main efforts at controlling the Highlands fell not to farm- been little discussed.56In some ways,we might expectlarge ing veterans but to real soldiers in real forts, like Fort projectslike the New Town to be influencedby notions of George, which has also been quite plausiblysuggested as a Romanization.Given the authoritythat ancient,particularly source for the plan of the New Town.58

148 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 Figure 13 RobertAdam, perspective view of proposalfor the South Bridge, Edinburgh,1786

So, in the Proposalsand in the plan of the New Town, Although this vision was only partlyrealized, the idea it can be argued that Edinburgh negotiated for itself an of Edinburghthat it portraysis one that confidentlyasserts, identity and a role that drew on Roman imperialideas and primarily,the city'sintellectual preeminence as one of the allowed the city to walk a line between improvementand greatcities of the Enlightenment.It is also symbolicallysig- civilization, on the one hand, and Anglicization and con- nificant because it appears to reverse Johnson's famous quest, on the other.Edinburgh was to be the Lutetia(Paris) maxim:Adam's great route is concerned with the idea of or Caesareaof the North; it was certainlyno Athens.59As entering the city from the south, not with leaving it. Edin- the eighteenth century progressed, however, and as the burgh, not London, is now envisagedas the destination. New Town project gathered pace, a more confident and However,this neoclassicalcity that Adamimagined for assuredvision of the city was established. Edinburghwas not to be Rome, and althoughhis supreme Before returning to Edinburgh's relationship with confidence,his sensitivityto the unique topographyof the Athens, it is worth pausingto consider the contributionof city,and his emphasison monumental,classical, urban design the greatestarchitect active in Edinburghin the eighteenth were all key influenceson the subsequentdevelopment of the century.In the work of RobertAdam, we find a much more New Town, Edinburgh'sidentity within a Unionist and European, neoclassical, and, indeed, Roman vision com- imperialistBritish state could not be Rome; once again,the pared with anything that had been built in Edinburgh Scottishcapital would have to deferto London. before. His contributionwas crucialto the establishmentof All of which brings us back to the Calton Hill and the a new and confidentself-image for the city.Adam was con- decision to build the National Monument. The general sistent in his demandfor unity and monumentalclassicism. backgroundto this has alreadybeen discussed,and the idea He also displayedan almost Romantic streakthat allowed that Edinburgh'sidentification with Athens should be seen him, first, to imagine that Edinburghwas reallyRome, and as the culminationof a tendencythat goes backto the time second, to attemptto exploitthe peculiartopography of the of the Union has also been outlined. Within that imperial city to a far greaterdegree than any of his contemporaries context, and in the context of the classical,mainly Roman, and in a manner that looked forward to the early- imagery that was frequentlyused, some of the arguments nineteenth-centuryPicturesque and Greek Revival. that were airedat the time of the debate over the National His famousproposals for South Bridgeshow a Roman- Monument are particularlyrelevant. tic, classicalvision of Edinburghas the Rome,rather than the One author,Archibald Alison, a member of the com- Athens,of the North (Figure13).60 He created,or imagined, mittee of contributorsresponsible for overseeing the con- a great Via Triumphalis,with an arch and aristocraticinsulae structionof the monument,62writing in 1819, set the entire lining a routethat linkedhis universitybuildings in the south projectwithin the context of the Union and the empire.63 with a versionof the Pantheon(Register House, the Scottish He consideredtwo areas:first, the justificationfor building National Archive)in the north. At the northernend of this a monument at all, and, second, the rationalefor copying route there was a clearview from the viaductof the North the Parthenon. Bridgetoward the CaltonHill, on whichhe erectedwhat was Briefly,Alison's first argumentheld that history shows to be the firstof manymonuments to greatmen, the monu- thatgreat advances in arts,sciences, and philosophy are made ment to David Hume in imitationof a Romantomb.61 in smallstates, where "thehuman mind arrivesat its greatest

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 149 perfection,"and "the freest scope is afforded both to the authorhoped, would be that Edinburgh'selite would choose grandeurof moral, and the brilliancyof intellectualcharac- to stayin the city,preventing, in other words,the provincial- ter."64The exampleshe citedwere Athens and the Italiancities ism thathe hadidentified as an inherentdanger of the Union. of the Renaissance.The undeniableproblem that these states In this respect,the author,once again,can be seen to belong faced,however, was the dangerof annihilationat the handsof to a long line of Edinburghwriters whose startingpoint was much stronger,barbarous foes. Incorporationwithin a larger to providein Edinburgha counterweightto the attractionsof unit would avoid that problembut could lead to stagnation London. Elliot's 1752 Proposalsand the whole New Town and decadence.65In the Britishcontext, the dangerwas that project fall into this category,and it was also an important Edinburghmight become a Venice, Lyons, or Toulouse-"a motive for those behind the National Monument project. provincialtown, supportedonly by the occasionalinflux of Once again, Edinburgh'sidentity was to be defined mainly gentlemen."66The wayto avoidthis, the argumentran, was an in relationto London. arrangementwhereby the smallerstate would be ableto main- It should be stressed,however, that the identity that is tain a degreeof independencewithin the largerwhile enjoy- envisagedis quite differentfrom that in the mid eighteenth ing the various advantagesin trade, defense, and other century.The key point here is that the building of this edi- activitiesthat their incorporationwould bring.67 fice and the benefits that would flow from it would effec- In 1819, this was the key argumentin justifyinga sep- tively mean that Edinburghhad renegotiatedits role within arateNational Monument to the War Dead for Scotland.It the United Kingdom;it would become Athens to London's was felt that a degree of independencewould be good for Rome. London would be the seat of imperial power, but Edinburgh,for Scotland,and for England,because it would Edinburghwould be the culturalcapital: maintain a certain meaningful rivalry between the two nations that would be creative and would benefit the new Andthus while Londonis the Rome of the empire,to which imperialnation as a whole. The monument would do this, the young,and the ambitious,and the gay,resort for the pursuit not simply by acting as a focus of national pride in the of pleasure,of fortune,or of ambition,Edinburgh might become exploits of the Scottish military,but becauseit would be, in anotherAthens, in whichthe artsand the sciences flourished, effect, the "WestminsterAbbey of the North,"68meaning underthe shade of herancient fame, andestablished a domin- that Scotsmenof geniuswould be commemoratedthere and ion over the minds of men more permanentthan even that would provide an influx of talent and genius-dead, it is whichthe Romanarms were able to effect.72 true, but inspirationalnonetheless. The next questionis, of course,Why Greek?We have So, in one building,Empire, Unity, and Individualityare all consideredsome of the fundamentalreasons, but otherswere subsumed.There is a subtext,however, specifically one that also given. These ranged from the association of Greek comes from the Roman authorHorace: "CapturedGreece Doric, especiallyin the mindsof the classicallyeducated, with defeatedher rough conquerorand broughtthe artsinto rus- the "severevirtues and manly character of war"69to the effect tic Latium."73In other words, by assumingthe identity of that such a pure model would have on the public edificesof Athens, the implication was that Edinburgh and Scotland the city (andpossibly the country).70There were even argu- were superior to London and England. Scottish achieve- ments at this time in other sourcesthat the originalwas past ments in the Enlightenment period gave the city the right saving and that Edinburgh,the new Athens, was the most to claimthat it was now the civilizinginfluence within Great appropriateplace to build a replacement. Relative to this Britainand the empire. This, of course, is the exact oppo- notion is the idea, alreadymentioned in connection with site of the mid-eighteenth-century, Jacobite-threatened Hugh "Grecian"Williams, that the CaltonHill proposalwas period we startedoff with, and, for the first time, although about the "restoration"of the Parthenon.71The benefits of Edinburghwas still defining itself in relation to London, it this would include the inspirationthe building would pro- was claiming an identity that in some ways usurpedpart of vide to architectsand craftsmen.It would also be instructive the role of the capital.The Greek Revivalwas an important to the populationat largewho would come to muse upon the tool in markingBritain's claim not only as military power militaryprowess of Scottisharms as well as the achievements but also as culturalpower. The culturalsuperiority of Greek of the other greatindividuals who might be commemorated artistic achievement over Roman was clearly understood there. Moreover, Edinburgh'sclaim to culturalsupremacy andwas a basicfoundation of Greek Revivaltheory. As early would be boosted, as people flocked to the city from else- as 1762, in the publicationof the firstvolume of Antiquities where in orderto study "therules of taste"that the building of Athens,James Stuarthad outlined this idea very clearly, would come to represent.One of the effects of all this, the quoting the famous line from Horace given above.74

150 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 Figure 14 Thomas Hamilton,Royal High School, Edinburgh,1825-1829

Clearly,for an emerging superpower,it was importantto Hamilton'sbuilding has been recognized almost since assertcultural credentials as well as militaryand industrial the day it was opened as one of the great buildings of the power, and, therefore, identification with Athens was an Greek Revival. Hamilton had never visited Greece and importantpart of the imperial project. The acquisitionof thereforewas reliant on publishedsources for his detailed the Elgin Marblesand the building of the BritishMuseum design. However, an indicationof his masteryof the mate- in London firmly establishedthat city'sAthenian creden- rial and of his originalityas an architectcan be seen in the tials, and even the proposalto copy the Parthenonas a war way that he avoidsthe obviouscliches of the Greek Revival, memorial was first suggested for London.75Edinburgh's even though he uses some of the obvious sources. He was claims impinged directly upon this image, which perhaps certainlyaware of the context in which he was workingand partly explainsthe resentment felt by some London com- produceda design that was functionallyexcellent and styl- mentators. istically appropriateto the building'spurpose and to the In Edinburgh, the National Monument was the key emergingsymbolic themes of the hill. That this was partof buildingin representinga new role for the city,and the Cal- his task seems clear from the Lord Provost'sspeech at the ton Hill becameits new acropolis.However, the vision rep- foundationon 28 July 1825: resented by George Meikle Kemp'slithograph (see Figure 4) was never realized,and it could be arguedthat the frag- We trust, also, that instead of deformingthis much admiredhill, ment of archaeologicalprecision that was erected was not the buildingproposed to be erected will form one of the finest enough on its own to change perceptionseither of the hill pictures in the scene, and will accord well with the naturalbeau- or of the city.76For that to happen, other buildingshad to ties of the place, and with the other edifices which are soon to compensatefor the failureof the NationalMonument proj- be raised in the vicinity.77 ect, and, from the point of view of the Greek Revivaland the idea of the hill as acropolis, the key building was Hamiltonwas certainlysuccessful in achievingthis, and it is Thomas Hamilton's Royal High School (1825-1829), almostimpossible to assesshis buildingwithout considering which is not only an importantGreek Revival building in its it in relation to the National Monument, which was rising own right, but also was deliberatelydesigned to combine at the same time. The High School functions as Propylaea with the National Monumentand therebyenhance the idea to Cockerell and Playfair'sParthenon. This is suggested of the acropolisand Athens (Figure 14). partlyby the approachfrom the Old Town, which involves

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 151 Figure 15 Thomas Shepherd, Calton Hillfrom the Old Town of Edinburgh,from Thomas Shepherd, Moder Athens ...

a steep climb up the hill to the school, with the Parthenon ments were erected on the site.79 Not all of these are as the apparentultimate goal beyond (Figure15). This same Greek, although some of the most important ones are. idea is also symbolized by the approachfrom street level; These include Thomas Hamilton'smonument to the poet the portico is elevated and has to be reached by a slightly Robert Burns, directly opposite the Royal High School indirect, steep climb.78 (Figure 16). This is a typicallyinventive response to a com- Hamilton has also cleverlyorchestrated his sources so mon archaeological source. Hamilton used the choragic that the hill can be interpretedin terms of agoraand acrop- Monument of Lysicrates,a standardsource from volume 1 olis; that is, the High School representsthe agora, and the of Stuart and Revett, and turned it into a circulartemple National Monument, the acropolis. The relevant sources that sits on the south side of the Calton Hill, overlooking here are the Theseion, taken from Stuart and Revett, for the Old Town in the valley below,with Arthur'sSeat form- the portico of the school, and the generic type of the stoa, ing a dramaticmountainous backdrop. One of Hamilton's which is representedby the colonnades acrossthe front of major concerns in this has been fully to exploit his pic- the building.Every agora had a stoa, and the Athenianagora turesque site, and he has clearly been inspired in this by also had a temple to Hephaestus-the Theseion. There is, the example of the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli. Hamilton therefore, an explicitAthenian link, which gives this func- was no doctrinaireGreek Revivalist,and his building is a tional building a very important role to play in the inter- very clever combinationof a standardarchaeological Greek pretationof the buildingabove, the hill as acropolisand the source with a well-known Roman example that sits in a city as the new Athens. rathersimilar site. These two key buildings provided a focus for subse- Playfair'smonument to Dugald Stewart,built in 1832 quent development on the hill. Despite the fact that many on the west side of the hill, respondsto the site in a similar perfectlyfunctional buildings were erectedthere, including way, although in this case the architecthas stuck closer to housing and prisons, the Calton Hill came to assume the the scale and proportionsof the original building but has air of a nationalValhalla as a number of importantmonu- eliminatedits solid core entirely(Figure 17).

152 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 Figure 16 Thomas Hamilton,Burns Monument, Edinburgh,1830

Figure 17 W. H. Playfair,Monument to Dugald Stewart, Edinburgh, 1831

If the CaltonHill was the centerfor Greekmonuments Royal Institutionbuilding (Figure 18). Finally,at least one in Scotland,other buildingtypes in the Greek style spread areaof that intellectualprowess that had originallyjustified all acrossthe country.It was used for Presbyterianchurches Edinburgh'sAthenian pretensions was celebratedby signifi- as a style unsulliedwith Roman and pre-Reformationcon- cant Greek Revivalbuildings: by the earlynineteenth cen- notations;it was used in buildings of authority,like court tury,Edinburgh was a renownedcenter for medicalstudies, buildings(in Glasgow)and customs houses (in Greenockand and both the RoyalCollege of Surgeonsand the RoyalCol- Leith). Grecianschool buildingsproliferated; in Edinburgh lege of Physicianshad new buildingserected that drew on alone, there are, in additionto the High School, Edinburgh formsand motifs from the GreekRevival. Playfair built Sur- Academyand John Watson's,both austereDoric buildings geons' Hall on a site in the south of the city (Figure 19);its by WilliamBurn but lackingthe dramaticsite and composi- Erectheion-Ionicportico seems to havesome debtto the por- tion of Hamilton'sbuilding. Greek was also consideredsuit- tico of the RoyalHigh Schoolin the waydirect entry through able for culturalbuildings. Playfair had been able to indulge the columnsis blockedand accessinstead is throughthe side this interestfrom 1821 in the RoyalInstitution building, but entrancesand behind the columns.The physiciansused the from 1832 he was able to expandthis buildingwith a much everinventive Hamilton himself, in 1844, to buildtheir new more generous Doric portico and a full peripteraltemple headquartersamong the sober classical,domestic architec- treatment.This was followed, at the very end of his career, ture of Queen Street,in the New Town (Figure20). Here, a with the National Galleryof Scotland,directly behind the fairly austere faqade,with architecturaldecoration drawn

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 153 Figure 18 W. H. Playfair,National Gallery of Scotland, 1850-1853; in background,Royal Scottish Academy (formerlyRoyal Institution),expanded 1832-1859

from Greek archaeology,is enlivenedby anotherstandard- issue Stuartand Revettsource, the Towerof the Winds, dra- maticallyreworked into a suitablyimpressive entrance for what was a ratherlavish public building. To conclude, then, the idea of Edinburgh as the "Athensof the North,"despite its undeniableincongruity in some ways,was relatedto the city'sattempt to find an iden- tity for itself within the Britishimperial state. Accusations of culturaltimidity are open to question,and what has been presentedhere is the suggestion that the projectshould be judged against the backgroundof the eighteenth century and the loss of independence and capital-city status that Edinburghhad endured,and in that contextit can be shown to have been a confident assertion of importance and achievement,appropriate to the new imperialage. Although the reasonsfor linking Edinburghwith Athenswere mani- fold, the focus of this idea came in the earlynineteenth cen- tury, when a particularfailed building project combined with a remarkablesite to concoct an identityfor Edinburgh that it has never lost. Figure 19 W. H. Playfair,Surgeons' Hall,Edinburgh, 1829-1833 On the Calton Hill, by the 1840s, an architectural

154 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 Notes This paperis based on an exhibitionprepared by the studentsin my hon- ors class,Edinburgh 'sCalton Hill, A CapitalSite, which took placein Decem- ber 1997 in the MatthewGallery, University of Edinburgh.I am gratefulfor the efforts and researchesof all of those students,whose work has proved invaluable.In addition,I am gratefulto the Universityof EdinburghFac- ulty of Social Sciences for providing funding for the preparationof this paper;to KirstyBurrell, who assistedwith additionalresearch; and to Alice Crossland,the departmentlibrarian, for assistancewith plates and with proofreading.

1. Reproducedin MargaretA. Forbes,ed., Curiositiesof a ScotsCharta Chest (Edinburgh, 1897), 198. Referred to by Nicholas Philpson in Duncan Thomson, ed., Raeburn:The Art of Sir HenryRaeburn 1756-1823, exhibition catalogue,Scottish National PortraitGallery (Edinburgh, 1997), 29. 2. The RidingAcademy was designedby RobertAdam, and its firstmaster was Antonio Angelo Malevolti Tremamondo.See William Forbes Gray, "An Eighteenth-CenturyRiding School," The Bookof the OldEdinburgh Club,1st ser., 20 (1935): 111-159. 3. Reportedby WilliamSmellie in Literaryand Characteristic Lives of Gregory, Kames,Hume, and Smith (Edinburgh, 1830), 161-162. 4. AlexanderCarlyle to Gilbert Elliot of Minto, 29 July 1761, National Libraryof Scotland,Ms. 11015,106. Quoted in RichardB. Sher, Church and Universityin the ScottishEnlightenment. The Moderate Literati of Edin- burgh(Edinburgh, 1985), 3. 5. Two examplesof this are Colin McWilliam,Scottish Townscape (London, 1975), 118, and William Forbes Gray, ed., Memorialsof his Timeby Lord Cockburn,abridged ed. (Edinburgh,1945), 174 (editor'sfootnote). 6. TheAntiquities of Athens.Measured and Delineatedby James Stuart ER.S. andES.A. andNicholas Revett ..., vols. 1-3 (London, 1762, 1787, 1796). 7. Eileen Harris,British Architectural Books and Writers1556-1785 (Cam- bridge, 1990),439-450. This lists a numberof subsequenteditions running throughuntil 1922. None of those availableto this authorhad any mention of Edinburgh,although it is possible that some editions do makethe con- Figure 20 Thomas Hamilton,Physicians' Hall,Edinburgh, 1844 nection. However,even if this is the case, it merelystrengthens the case for the nineteenthcentury as the periodwhen the similaritiesbetween the two cities were particularlynoted. 8. EdwardDaniel Clarke, Travelsin VariousCountries of Europe,Asia and assemblagepulled together key themes and ideasof the pre- Africa,vol. 6 (London, 1818), 378. vious century. In a strange mixture of building types, rang- 9. Hugh William Williams, Travelsin Italy,Greece and the IonianIslands, 2 ing from an observatory to a prison, along with innumerable vols. (Edinburgh,1820), vol. 2, Letter 60, 289. 10. AlistairRowan, "The Athens of the North 26 monuments to great individuals, the location was concerned Exposed,"Country Life October 1967, p. 1052. Accordingto this source, the phrasewas firstused with education and science, with crime and punishment, in his Viewsof Greece(1827-1829). This informationis also given byJoseph with literature and with politics, philosophy and religion. It MordauntCrook, The GreekRevival, Neoclassical Attitudes in BritishArchi- was concerned with the placement of the city in time and tecture,1760-1870 (London, 1972), 104. space, through the construction of an observatory in 1818 11. Rowan,"Athens," 1052. 12. vol. 419-420. and the establishment of a base for the trigonometrical sur- Williams, Travels, 2, 13. CharlesMcKean, Edinburgh Portrait ofa City(London, 1991), 149. This vey of 1815. It was a reflection of the history, ancient and mentionsladies' hair fashions in the 1820s. See also Ian Gow, "The North- modern, of and of Scotland and, in some Edinburgh senses, ern AthenianTeapot," Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1034 (1989):353-355. a summary of the achievement of the Age of Enlighten- 14. McKean,Edinburgh, 149. ment. As such, it can also be said to represent Edinburgh's 15. Williams, Travels,vol. 2, 384. image of itself in that period. This was rather different from 16. BenjaminCrombie, ModernAthenians, a Seriesof OriginalPortraits of MemorableCitizens 1837), 47. what it had been a century earlier. Its aspirations were no ofEdinburgh(Edinburgh, 17. Letter by StamatiosKleanthes (one of the architectsof the 1833 planof longer to be merely a lonely, northern outpost of an impe- Athens),quoted by Eleni Bastea,The Creation of Modern Athens. Planning the rial but the fountainhead of that civiliza- civilization, very Myth(Cambridge, 2000), 70. tion-no longer Caesarea, but Athens. 18. Active support for the Greeks was coordinated through the various

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 155 Greek Committees.The most importantone was in London, but the ear- 46. Reporton foundationby the "RoyalAssociation of Contributorsto the liest was actuallyfounded in Edinburgh.See ChristopherMontague Wood- National Monument of Scotland"(Edinburgh, 1822), 4. house, ThePhilhellenes (London, 1969), 77. 47. Mentioned by RobertT. Skinner,"National Memorial, Scotland's 'Dis- 19. Quoted by David Daiches, "The Scottish Enlightenment,"in David grace', The Architect'sLetters," The Scotsman(Edinburgh), 3 December Daiches, Jean Jones, and Peter Jones, eds., The ScottishEnlightenment 1930. 1730-1790. A Hotbedof Genius(Edinburgh, 1996), 8. 48. O Caledonia!(see n. 35). 20. John Logan, Elementsof the Philosophyof History.Part First.Dissertation 49. Scott sat on the committeeand was a signatoryof the documentreferred on the Governments,Manners, and Spirit,of Asia, reprintof 1781 and 1787 to in n. 44. editions,with an introductionby Anthony Sher (Bristol, 1995), 52-53. 50. Michael Lynch, ScotlandANew History(London, 1992), 313. 21. Woodhouse, Philhellenes,38. 51. Gilbert Elliot, Proposals,quoted in detail by Youngson,Classical Edin- 22. Sher, Churchand University,317 (see n. 4). burgh,4-12 (see n. 34). 23. Forbes Gray,ed., Memorials,174 (see n. 5). 52. Ibid., 5. 24. RobertMudie, TheModern Athens, A Dissectionand Demonstration ofMen 53. SamuelJohnson. A Journeyto the WesternIsles of Scotland,1775, letter and Thingsin the ScotchCapital, by a ModernGreek (London, 1825). dated 10 November 1775, CanongateClassics (Edinburgh, 1996), 458. 25. McKean,Edinburgh, 171 (see n. 13). 54. For a discussionof Johnson'sview of Scottishculture in relationto the 26. See, for example, Angus Macdonald, "The Athens of the North," imagepresented by Elliot in his Proposals,see JamesLawson, "Civilisation in Rassegna64, no. 4 (1995): 34-39. Scotland,Two Eighteenth-CenturyPerspectives," Scotlands 3, no. 2 (1996): 27. Rowan, "Athens,"1052. 47-55. For the significanceof the Anglicizationof the Scottishlanguage, see 28. See, for example,Ian Gow, "The Northern AthenianHouse," Rassegna JamesG. Basker,"Scotticisms and the Problemof CulturalIdentity in Eigh- 64, no. 4 (1995): 40-47. teenth-CenturyBritain," inJohn Dwyerand Richard Sher, eds., Sociability and 29. J. MordauntCrook, GreekRevival, 104 (see n. 10). Societyin Eighteenth-CenturyScotland (Edinburgh, 1993), 81-95. 30. Roger Kennedy,Greek Revival America (New York,1989), 5. 55. YolandeO'Donoghue, WilliamRoy, 1726-1790: Pioneerof the Ordnance 31. Ibid., 190. Survey(London, 1977). 32. The idea that the Union was cementedby yearsof conflictwith Franceis 56. Youngson,Classical Edinburgh, chap. 4 (see n. 34). More detailedanaly- the centralthesis of LindaColey, Britons: Forging a Nation(New Haven, 1992). sis can also be found in M. K. Meade, "Plansof the New Town of Edin- 33. Miles Glendinning, RanaldMaclnnes, and Aonghus MacKechnie,A burgh,"Architectural History 14 (1971): 41-44; Kitty Cruft and Andrew Historyof ScottishArchitecture, From the Renaissance to thePresent Day (Edin- Fraser,eds.,James Craig 1744-1796: 'TheIngenious Architect of theNew Town burgh, 1996), "The Architectureof ImperialScotland," 185-188. of Edinburgh'(Edinburgh, 1995), chap. 3. 34. Quoted from a letter of Playfair'sby AlexanderJohn Youngson,The 57. EdinburghCity Archive,Sederunt Book of the Committee for manag- Makingof ClassicalEdinburgh (Edinburgh, 1988), 159. ing the Malt Tax ..., 28 May 1719, 58-59. 35. This is exploredin the exhibition O Caledonia!Sir WalterScott and the 58. John R. Hume, "JamesCraig's New Town,"Rassegna 64, no. 4 (1995): Creationof Scotland,Scottish National PortraitGallery, 7 May-17 October 18-25. 1999 (catalogueavailable on CD-ROM). 59. Caesareawas the name given to a number of Roman colonial cities, 36. The first clear expression of this opposition to the grid of the New establishedeither by generalsand emperorsto satisfythe demandsof army Town, with an appealfor a more sensitiveapproach to urbanplanning, was veteransor by dependantkingdoms seeking favor from Rome. An example made by William Starkin Reportto the RightHonourable the LordProvost, of the latter is the city of Caesareain Judeafounded by King Herod in the Magistratesand Councilof the CityofEdinburgh,... on thePlansfor Laying out first century A.D. thegrounds for Buildingsbetween Edinburgh and Leith (Edinburgh, 1814). 60. John Lowrey,"Robert Adam and Edinburgh,"Rassegna 64, no. 4 (1995): 37. Youngson,Classical Edinburgh, 164-165. 26-33. 38. Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh:Picturesque Notes (1878); quotes 61. Iain Gordon Brown, "DavidHume's Tomb: a Roman Mausoleumby from Edmund Gosse, ed., The Worksof RobertLouis Stevenson (London, RobertAdam," Proceedings of the Society of Antiquariesof Scotland 121 1906), 295-296. (1991): 391-422. 39. James Macphersonpublished various fragments of Gaelic epic poetry 62. Alisonwas the son of the famousEdinburgh associationist philosopher between 1760 and 1763 that were supposedlythe work of an ancientCeltic of the same name. Of course,such a philosophicalbackground also made it Ossian. were bard, They fakes. quite easy to imagine Edinburgh as Athens. The idea that Edinburgh's 40. Frank Walker,"National Romanticismand Architecture,"in George Athenianidentity is a culminationof eighteenth-centuryconcerns with clas- Gordon, ed., Perspectiveson theScottish City (Aberdeen, 1985), 129. Walker sical identity is well summedup in the most modern interpretationof the was quoting Shakespeare,Macbeth, 1.5.164. youngerAlison's career, in MichaelMichie, An EnlightenmentTory in Victo- 41. Graham Morton, Unionist-Nationalism.Governing Urban Scotland, rian Scotland:The Careerof SirArchibaldAlison (East Lothian, 1997). Scottish 1830-1860, HistoricalReview Monographs Series, no. 6 (EastLin- 63. Blackwood'sEdinburgh Magazine 5, no. 28 (July 1819): 377-387. Alison ton, 1999), 184. returned to this topic, writing in a similar vein in "Restorationof the 42. It at has, varioustimes, been suggestedas the basisfor the National Gal- Parthenon,"Edinburgh Review 38 (February1823): 26. leries of Scotland and even a national parliamentbuilding, the latter as 64. Alison, Blackwoods,377. as recently 1997. 65. Here the authorcited AndrewFletcher of Saltoun,"The Patriot,"who 43. Acts 3. Geo. c. 1822. of Parliament, 4, 10, was one of the most vociferous opponents of Union in 1707, foreseeing 44. National Libraryof Scotland,Ms. 638. preciselythis danger. 45. Up to ?400,000was estimated by the Treasury,although Parliament balked 66. Alison, Blackwoods,379. at this "in the state of the present country"and envisagedsomething in the 67. In the late twentieth century,similar argumentswere put forwardas region of?100,000; Hansard,31, 1816, 102 (Commons),30April 1816. partof the case for Scotlandhaving its own devolvedParliament within the

156 JSAH / 60:2, JUNE 2001 United Kingdom.This was establishedin May 1999. 79. It has never really lost this quality, and even some of the functional 68. Alison,Blackwood's, 380. This suggestionis madeby a numberof authors buildingshave been subsumedwithin a greatersymbolic whole. For exam- in the 1819/20 period,although none of them used this actualphrase. ple, in the twentieth century,it became associatedwith government and 69. Ibid., 385. aspirationsto self-government.As early as 1908, there were suggestions 70. Ibid. that the incompleteNational Monument should be turnedinto a national 71. Letter to the Lord Advocate on the "Restorationof the Parthenon," parliament.In the 1930s, administrativedevolution resulted in the con- ScotsMagazine, February 1820, pp. 1-7, from "ATraveller." structionof Saint Andrew'sHouse, the main governmentheadquarters in 72. Alison, Blackwood's,385. Scotland.In the 1970s, the Royal High School itself was convertedfor use 73. Horace, Epistles2.1.156: "Graeciacapta ferum cepit, et artes intulit as a parliament building in the expectation that devolution would be agrestioLatio ..." achieved.This did not finallyhappen until 1997, by which time the build- 74. Stuartand Revett,Antiquities, vol. 1 (1762), i-iv (see n. 6). ing and the hill had become importantnationalist as well as nationalsym- 75. National Libraryof Scotland,Ms. 638, 2-3, printed copy of letter to bols, and it is widely believed in Scotlandthat this is the main reasonwhy the Times,Paris, 17 April 1817, recommendingthe Parthenonas a suitable the governmentdid not select Calton Hill as the site for the new Scottish model for a war memorialin London. Parliamentbuilding, which is currently being built in the Old Town of 76. Sir ArchibaldAlison would have disagreedwith this analysis,arguing Edinburgh. that the monument was complete in the sense that it complied precisely with the builder'scontract, and, more importantly,that it was so uniqueand Illustration Credits faultless that it provided "the finest restoration of Grecian architecture Figures 1, 2. National Galleryof Scotland which the BritishIslands can exhibit,and has contributedto introducethat Figures 3, 7, 9, 15. EdinburghUniversity Library pure and simple taste by which the edifices of Edinburghhave since been Figures 4-6, 16, 17. Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical distinguished";Archibald Alison, SomeAccount of my Life and Writings.An Monumentsof Scotland Autobiography(Edinburgh and London, 1883), 220. Figure 8. Patriciaand AngusMacDonald 77. William Steven, TheHistory of theHigh Schoolof Edinburgh(Edinburgh, Figures 10, 11, 18, 20. Universityof Edinburgh,Department of Architec- 1849), 218. ture Library 78. There is also quite a strong similarity between the composition of Figure 12. National Libraryof Scotland Hamilton'scenterpiece and Le Roy'spublished reconstruction of the Propy- Figure 13.John Soane Museum, London lea, which has similar flankingpylons to the main portico;Julien-David Figure 14.Joe Rock Le Roy, LesRuines des plus beaux monuments de la Grece(Paris, 1758). Figure 19. Royal College of Surgeons,Edinburgh

GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 157