Changes in house use from 1804 to today

The concept for the creation of the New Town came from a concern by the city council at the growing disenchantment among the gentry and middle-class professionals at the cramped and increasingly unpleasant accommodation in the medieval city. Many were beginning to move out of the city for the country and so emerged the plan for a new town that, with its wide streets, grand houses and open space, would offer a form of country living within the city. Much of the first phase saw the creation of grand houses for the gentry but later streets such as Albany Street contained less grand townhouses suited for the middle-class professionals (Plan for Number 35). Thus the majority of residents in the nineteenth century were the professional classes, such as lawyers, doctors, professors, retired soldiers, civil servants and clergy, and those living off independent wealth. This style of life required sufficient wealth to employ the servants needed to service the large houses and for those who did not require a whole house - professional single men, unmarried women and widows of means, and those visiting the city for a short time - many houses became lodging houses but those in Albany Street still served middle-class individuals. Thus the social make-up of the street's residents (excluding the many servants) remained unchanged through to the First World War. From 1918 on, the combined effects of economic pressures, falling family numbers, the significant reduction in women choosing to work as servants and the middle-class preferring easily managed houses, preferably with a garden, led to more of the houses begin converted to offices or used for other non-residential use.

By the 1950s, this shift was further exacerbated by the deterioration in many of the 150 year old properties. Thus, the New Town became regarded as somewhere to avoid as a place for the middle-classes to live. By 1955, forty one of the houses in Albany Street were offices, clubs or other non-residential premises and eight were boarding houses or private hotels. Only five houses were solely occupied as residential. In the 1960s, concern about the poor condition of many New Town houses and alarm at the potential loss of parts of the city’s Georgian townscape to redevelopment led to a conservation movement. The Edinburgh Architectural Association organised a volunteer army of over 120 architects, surveyors and students to survey and assess the scale of the repairs needed in 11,000 properties, and as a result, in 1970, the Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee (ENTCC) was formed to offer grants to help home owners with the cost of repairs. Cumberland Street, Fettes Row, Scotland Street and St Stephen's Street, in particular, formed what was termed a ‘tattered fringe’ to the New Town, and might otherwise have been lost. Through this conservation work, the New Town became again attractive as a place to live and in 1995, both Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns were awarded World Heritage Site status. Albany Street continues to be a mix of residential and business but with prices for New Town properties increasing significantly, and town houses less viable as modern offices, the shift back to residential use continues.

(Design by Smith Scott Mullan Associates for conversion of Albany Street townhouse 'to make it a desirable family home and help to ensure that this piece of architectural heritage is preserved for future generations to enjoy.')