Building Plans
While not directly related to tracking residents, the Dean of Guild Court warrant drawings site can provide interesting information about a property.
One of the functions of the Dean of Guild Court was to regulate the construction and demolition of buildings within the City boundary. The archives hold petitions submitted to this body for approval which usually include architectural drawings of the proposed building. If alterations took place at a later date, architectural drawings would also have been submitted. Although until the latter half of the 19th century, there was no obligation to submit these drawings to the Court, there are many plans relating to properties before that date.
Where drawings exist, they can provide useful pictorial evidence of what buildings looked like when they were first built, as well as detailing exterior and interior changes to the design of the building over the years. For example, here the original plan for Number 1 Albany Street (left) and a later conversion plan from the 1820s (right) that showed that the property originally had been built for residential property but, twenty years later, converted to shop use.
The plans, also, may offer clues to the builder or owner at that date.
Thanks to Dr. Joe Rock, a consultant historian of Scottish material culture, the plans for the years 1770 – 1825 can be searched on line.
Once In the relevant years' section, one can enter a search for the relevant street to see a list of any related plans. Here a search in part 3 for Abercromby Place.
Click on relevant entries and then use your web ‘Find’ facility to search for the one mentioned. Here the entry in the January to December 1818 section for Abercromby Place.
If a relevant entry exists it may have small visual JPGs images of the plan. If so, and you wish a higher quality copy you can arrange to visit the Plan Store to see the originals and either take your own photos or arrange for the Plan Store to provide larger images. There is a charge of around £60 for the retrieval of warrant drawings for you to see on a visit or an additional charge if you wish them to copy these for you.
For later years, the Plan Store can advise you if material related to your property exists.
Contact the Plan Store on 0131 529 4016.