45 Albany Street
1881 – 1905 Richard Blunt MitchellRichard Houston Mitchell, was the last surviving son of Sir Colonel Thomas Mitchell and Mary Blunt. He was born in Hampshire. His father served in the army in Spain and Portugal and he was appointed to sketch the battlefields of the Peninsular War. In 1827,Thomas was appointed surveyor-general of New South Wales by George the Fourth in 1827. Over the next thirty years Thomas conducted four expeditions of discovery and it was he who cut all the passes which lead through the mountains to the interior of the Australian continent. Richard went to Australia with his family and became a Justice of the Peace for Victoria and, earlier, was Police Magistrate of Balranald in New South Wales (photo of Courthouse). A visitor recounted: ‘He is highly spoken of in his small kingdom of Balranald. The courthouse had received a few coats of paint, and the private room of Mr Mitchell was handsomely fitted up and had a good library. A garden containing many choice plants and flowers surrounded the courthouse. All this at Mr Mitchell’s own expense.’ However, in spite of his work as a JP and magistrate, his grasp of some legal issues was wanting, for when his father died although he was left a large area of land, due to having witnessed the will he could not inherit. When his uncle offered to pass over his estate and house at Polmwood to him, he came to live in Scotland.
In Edinburgh Richard was a member of various societies, including the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He moved to Regent’s Terrace, where he died in 1916.
1905 William Ingram
William Ingram was an advocate. He lived here briefly before moving to Great King Street.
The property appears to have remained vacant for a number of years.
1911 – 1914 Miss E H Bryce
Nothing traced.
Around 1917 Christina Thomas
Christina Thomas died here in 1917 but nothing further traced.
1922 - 1923 Office of R. Roxburgh
The company was run by J. Mackenzie and sold concentrated eggs.
1922 – 1923 J McGregor
McGregor was a concert agent.
1924 – (at least) 1980 Cathedral Hall (faded sign)
Number 45 was purchased by St Mary’s Cathedral and combined with their existing Cathedral Hall next door - See Number 47
H.W. Bocker was the caretaker.
1914 - 1934 (45a) James Maguire
Maguire worked as a woollen twister in the mills in Galashiels before moving to Edinburgh in the late eighteen nineties. James was a widower. two of his sons, James and Hugh both died in WW! in 1915 within three days of each other.
1975 – today The Albany Hotel
The hotel was established by Patrick Maridor, a Swiss, and his Scottish wife, Pauline. Later they expanded the hotel by taking over numbers 39, 41, 43, 45 and 47. Patrick previously had worked as a general sales manager for Dunlop and Pauline in banking, before they decided to open a hotel. It began as a bed and breakfast hotel, although a bar and restaurant were added later. In its early years it was a winner in the Scottish Tourist Board’s Awards; coming out top in the ‘Hotels up to 10 Rooms’ category.
It was sold at some point and revamped in 1997, and for a number of years the basement housed Haldanes restaurant, run by George Kelso. The hotel is now owned by the Ballantrae Group, owned by the Sharma family.