Moray Place: The Grandest Neoclassical Circus in Britain

Why is it significant?

Step into the breathtaking grandeur of Moray Place, an immense twelve-sided polygon of palatial sandstone townhouses enclosing private circular gardens.

Key Facts

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Step into the breathtaking grandeur of Moray Place, an immense twelve-sided polygon of palatial sandstone townhouses enclosing private circular gardens. Colossal fluted Doric columns rise through two full stories to support monumental pediments, casting crisp geometric shadows across the pristine Craigleith stone facades, universally considered the supreme architectural masterpiece of Edinburgh's Georgian New Town.

Designed in eighteen twenty-two by architect James Gillespie Graham for Francis Stuart, the tenth Earl of Moray, this residential estate was built strictly for Edinburgh's aristocratic elite, judges of the Supreme Court, and wealthy bankers who wanted palaces grander than anything found in London.

In the nineteenth century, author Arthur Conan Doyle studied medicine nearby under Doctor Joseph Bell, whose uncanny deductive powers at diagnosing patients in local Georgian drawing rooms directly inspired the legendary fictional character of Sherlock Holmes.

Follow the gentle sweep of Darnaway Street toward Charlotte Square, the formal crowning finish of Edinburgh's New Town.