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General Register House

General Register House was the first purpose built public records repository in the British Isles and is one of the oldest custom built archive buildings still in continuous use in the world.

Construction

Architects Robert Adam and his younger brother James were appointed to design Register House in 1772. The Adam brothers believed you could judge a society by the quality and grandeur of its public buildings, and this commission provided an opportunity to put their beliefs into practice.

The foundation stone was laid by the Lord Clerk Register, Lord Frederick Campbell, on 27 June 1774.

General Register House from the 1890's. Reproduced by kind permission of Peter Stubbs

The cost spiralled from an initial £12,000 to £29,000 by the time the building was completed, then opened to the public, in 1789. Robert Reid, also architect of St George's Church (now West Register House) completed the building to Adam's plan in the 1820's but with a much smaller north facade. Reid also designed the Antiquarian Room (now the National Records of Scotland Historical Search Room) which opened to the public in 1847.

While the building's design went through several stages, the main elements of the principal facade and the centralised plan, consisting of a domed rotunda within a quadrangle, were present from the beginning.

Adam's design incorporates special features to counteract the traditional enemies of archives - fire and damp. The building was solidly constructed of stone with brick vaults. Stone flags were used on all floors, the only exception was the Lord Clerk Register's Room which had a wooden floor. Individual offices had their own fireplaces but the rotunda relied on a Roman solution. Flues in the floor carried hot air from furnaces in the basement to protect the records from damp.

The Adam Dome

The top-lit domed rotunda is the most important room in Register House. At 50 feet in diameter and 80 feet in height it is Adam's highest and largest surviving room. It was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome and its only light source is the central oculus.

Five of the plasterwork medallions in the dome depict Roman marriage and civic ceremonies and the remaining three illustrate scenes from Greek myths and legends.

The larger than life-sized statue of King George III was situated in the centre of the rotunda in 1791.

The Screen Wall

General Register House from Princes Street

Completed in 1788, the screen wall originally extended 40 feet in front of Register House and was designed as a retaining wall and facing for the landscaped terrace on which General Register House then sat. The narrowing of Leith Street, the erection of the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington and traffic problems led to the screen wall being moved back by 33 feet by 1890.

Later developments

Between 1822 and 1825 the quadrangle was completed to Adam's plan by the Edinburgh architect, Robert Reid.

The architect of New Register House, Robert Matheson, designed a second rotunda (the Matheson Dome) which was erected at the back of Register House in 1871. This was based on the circular reading room in the British Museum.

Additional accommodation was provided for the Sasine Office (National Archives of Scotland) when the Robertson Wing was built between 1902 and 1904.

If you would like to find out about the history of the former National Archives of Scotland or view a leaflet on General Register House then see our history of NAS page.

If you would like to find out about the history of registration in Scotland then visit our history of GROS page.