Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh
The National Trust for Scotland’s restoration of 7 Charlotte Square as a museum of the Georgian New Town was both more and less than an exemplary restoration of a townhouse at the centre of Robert Adam's great neoclassical urban set piece. It was conceived and executed in 1972-5, a moment pregn...
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| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lenguaje: | Anglais |
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Angles
2023
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| Acceso en línea: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_6836 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_6836 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.6836 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.6836 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/6836 2023-06-01T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9n2g https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Legard, James politique Édimbourg patrimoine National Trust for Scotland années 1970 Georgian House politics 1970s Edinburgh heritage National Trust for Scotland Georgian House The National Trust for Scotland’s restoration of 7 Charlotte Square as a museum of the Georgian New Town was both more and less than an exemplary restoration of a townhouse at the centre of Robert Adam's great neoclassical urban set piece. It was conceived and executed in 1972-5, a moment pregnant with significance for Scotland’s – and the United Kingdom’s – political and cultural identity. Lord Kilbrandon’s Commission on the Constitution was about to report and was widely expected to usher in dramatic changes to the relationship between Scotland and the wider Union. At the same time negotiations for the UK’s entry into the then European Community were on the point of bearing fruit. Completion of the restoration was, moreover, timed to coincide with European Architectural Heritage Year and with the UK’s first European referendum. This paper will set the creation of the ‘Georgian House’ in this exceptional context, exploring how it became the vehicle for a distinctive vision of Scotland’s past and future, and then setting out the consequences – and the many compromises to good practice – that resulted from this unavowed but omnipresent agenda. In particular, it will show how the National Trust for Scotland’s leaders – almost all drawn from the country’s well-connected social elite – sought to make use of the prestige of eighteenth-century taste and cultural achievement to carve out a new place for Scotland’s cultural and spiritual heritage, and, perhaps no less importantly, for themselves, in a rapidly changing world. La restauration par le National Trust for Scotland du n°7 Charlotte Square en vue de la création d’un musée de la Ville Nouvelle de l’époque géorgienne constituait une reconstitution plus ou moins fidèle d’une maison conçue par Robert Adam et située au centre d’un ensemble urbain néoclassique majeur. Cette restauration a été conçue et mise en œuvre en 1972-1975, à une époque importante pour l’identité politique et culturelle de l’Écosse et du Royaume-Uni. La commission de Lord Kilbrandon sur la Constitution allait rendre ses conclusions, et l’on s’attendait à une modification profonde des relations entre l’Écosse et l’Union au sens large. En même temps, les négociations pour l’entrée du Royaume-Uni au sein de ce qui, à l’époque, constituait la Communauté Européenne étaient sur le point d’aboutir. L’achèvement de la restauration devait en outre coïncider avec l’Année européenne du patrimoine architectural et avec le premier référendum sur l’Europe au Royaume-Uni. Cet article situe la création de la « Maison géorgienne » dans ce contexte exceptionnel, en explorant comment elle est devenue le véhicule d’une vision particulière du passé et de l’avenir de l’Écosse, et comment elle reflétait un objectif inavoué mais omniprésent qui devait mener à de nombreuses entorses aux bonnes pratiques de la restauration. Cet article montre, en particulier, comment les dirigeants du National Trust for Scotland - presque tous issus de l’élite sociale bien intégrée - ont cherché à tirer profit de cette appétence pour le goût et les réalisations culturelles du XVIIIe siècle pour conférer une place originale au patrimoine culturel et spirituel de l’Écosse et se ménager sans doute aussi pour eux-mêmes une place nouvelle dans un monde en pleine évolution. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
politique Édimbourg patrimoine National Trust for Scotland années 1970 Georgian House politics 1970s Edinburgh heritage National Trust for Scotland Georgian House |
| spellingShingle |
politique Édimbourg patrimoine National Trust for Scotland années 1970 Georgian House politics 1970s Edinburgh heritage National Trust for Scotland Georgian House Legard, James Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh |
| description |
The National Trust for Scotland’s restoration of 7 Charlotte Square as a museum of the Georgian New Town was both more and less than an exemplary restoration of a townhouse at the centre of Robert Adam's great neoclassical urban set piece. It was conceived and executed in 1972-5, a moment pregnant with significance for Scotland’s – and the United Kingdom’s – political and cultural identity. Lord Kilbrandon’s Commission on the Constitution was about to report and was widely expected to usher in dramatic changes to the relationship between Scotland and the wider Union. At the same time negotiations for the UK’s entry into the then European Community were on the point of bearing fruit. Completion of the restoration was, moreover, timed to coincide with European Architectural Heritage Year and with the UK’s first European referendum. This paper will set the creation of the ‘Georgian House’ in this exceptional context, exploring how it became the vehicle for a distinctive vision of Scotland’s past and future, and then setting out the consequences – and the many compromises to good practice – that resulted from this unavowed but omnipresent agenda. In particular, it will show how the National Trust for Scotland’s leaders – almost all drawn from the country’s well-connected social elite – sought to make use of the prestige of eighteenth-century taste and cultural achievement to carve out a new place for Scotland’s cultural and spiritual heritage, and, perhaps no less importantly, for themselves, in a rapidly changing world. |
| author |
Legard, James |
| author_facet |
Legard, James |
| author_sort |
Legard, James |
| title |
Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh |
| title_short |
Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh |
| title_full |
Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh |
| title_fullStr |
Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics, and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh |
| title_sort |
restoring the ‘georgian house’: architecture, politics, and identity in 1970s edinburgh |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2023 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.6836 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/6836 |
| _version_ |
1877292795908063232 |