James Craig's plan of 1767 for the First New Town laid out a grid pattern of streets reflecting classical order and rationalism.

However, Sir Lawrence Dundas, a wealthy businessman, preferred the eastern site for his home and bought the ground before Craig's plan could be implemented.

St Andrew's Church had to be built part-way along George Street, and its place was taken by Dundas House, designed by Sir William Chambers.

[1] The site on the north side of George Street was already developed when the Town Council bought it back to establish the Church, and this shallow space suited the elliptical design.

There are similarities to William Adam's design for Hamilton Old Parish Church and to James Gibbs' original idea for St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, both of which were circular sanctuaries fronted with porticoes.

These include the temple-front portico with ceiling rosettes based on examples found in Syria by Robert Wood and illustrated[2] in his Ruins of Palmyra of 1753.

The original design for St Andrew's Church included a short tower but the Town Council opted for a 51m steeple, built in 1787.

Of the replacements the most noteworthy are stained glass windows depicting The Beatitudes by Alfred Webster (1913) and The Son of Man by Douglas Strachan (1934).

[3] St George's Church, on the west side of Charlotte Square, was begun in 1811, with Robert Reid adapting Adam's design from 1791.

Severe structural defects, caused by the use of wood and stone underneath the dome, led to its closure in the 1960s when it was taken over by the Ministry of Public Building and Works and converted for use as archives (now part of the National Records of Scotland).

First held in 1974, in 2006 this event raised over £113,000, including the proceeds of the sale of the script of the Doctor Who episode "New Earth", signed by David Tennant and Billie Piper.

Charlotte Chapel don't expect to move in until 2016[9] while £750,000 worth of renovation work occurs, most prominently the re-siting of the centrally-located organ console to make way for a baptismal tank.