George Square, Edinburgh

Principal buildings include the Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh University Library, 40 George Square and Appleton Tower.

Residents included Sir Walter Scott, the judge Lord Braxfield, and the politician Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville.

Combined with the redevelopments on Potterow to the north-east and completion of McEwan Hall, this made George Square the new hub of the whole university.

33 George Square was used as the base for HM Geological Survey of Scotland with notable employees including John Horne.

This was helped by the refusal of the Dominican Order who owned 23 and 24 George Square to sell their premises to the university, despite the offer to build a replacement church and priory.

On the northern side, the 19th century George Watson's Ladies College was retained alongside the modern Hugh Robson Building.

Today, George Square has the highest concentration of university buildings in its Central campus area, which includes the Brutalist Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, the university's main library, and the Appleton Tower and 40 George Square[4] teaching and administrative buildings.