18 March 2009: The National Gallery of Scotland

William Henry Playfair was one of the most influential Scottish architects of the nineteenth century, and designed many of the buildings that give the Edinburgh cityscape its unique character.

Playfair was born in London in 1789, but after his father’s death, he was sent to Scotland to live with his uncle, Professor John Playfair, a mathematician, geologist and leading figure in Edinburgh's Enlightenment.  Early on in his career, he was commissioned to complete the work of Robert Adam on the University of Edinburgh’s South Bridge buildings, but it was his involvement in the 1820s designing Regent Terrace, Royal Terrace and Calton Terrace in the New Town that really brought him to prominence.

Over the next 30 years, his work in the Greek Revival form of classical architecture was instrumental in earning Edinburgh the epithet “The Athens of the North”.  Playfair’s buildings included the National Monument and the City Observatory on Calton Hill, George Heriot's Hospital, the Advocates' Library, the Royal College of Surgeons, 105 George Street, Donaldson's Hospital, St Stephen's Church and Bonaly Tower.  But perhaps most recognisable of all, was his work on Edinburgh’s artistic landmarks – the Royal Scottish Academy and the National Gallery of Scotland, two neoclassical edifices standing on the Mound against the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle.

The National Gallery of Scotland opened to the public in 1859, two years after Playfair’s death: the photograph here was taken in 1860.