It has been restored and furnished by the National Trust for Scotland, and is operated as a popular tourist attraction, with over 40,000 visitors annually.

[1] In 1766 a young unknown architect named James Craig won the competition to design a layout for Edinburgh's first New Town.

By this time in the mid-18th century Edinburgh had become extremely overcrowded and the rich and poor alike were living in very close quarters in cramped conditions in the tenements of the medieval Old Town.

Today visitors can experience what life was like in the Old Town by visiting Gladstone's Land on the Royal Mile, which is a restored tenement building set up as the dwelling of a 17th-century merchant.

Craig's design for the New Town formed a grid-like pattern consisting three principal streets and two large squares with gardens for the residents use.

This patriotic street naming was a deliberate attempt to show that Scotland was now fully on board with the Union with England after the final defeat of the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Critics of the development began to complain that the streets were too plain and regimented and that there was a general lack of architectural merit.

In response to this, Scotland's foremost architect of the day Robert Adam was asked to draw up elevations for Charlotte Square so that the New Town could be finished off with a flourish of grandeur and elegance.

7, today's Georgian House, was completed in 1796 and was purchased for £1,800 by John Lamont to serve as his townhouse to be used during the social season.

As a member of the landed gentry he was not in paid employment and his main income came from the rents collected from his tenants.

[2] Although John Lamont was a comparatively wealthy person he had inherited some debts and owing to his own extravagant lifestyle his financial difficulties began to mount up.

Catherine was the only survivor of 11 children and she therefore inherited her father's estate, which in normal circumstances would have gone to the male heir, so she was a woman of independent wealth.

Robert aged 24 was killed in action in the First World War, Alexander Frederick, born in 1883 was an MP, was knighted and became the President of the Indian Legislative Assembly.

He used his influence to get the other owners of properties on the North side of the square to restore the facade to be more in line with Adam's original design.

[7] The restoration was designed by Schomberg Scott who had a long history of working with the NTS and was his final project before retiring.

[8] The Georgian House is one of the most visited sites in the NTS, and plays host to in excess of 40,000 visitors each year, from local schoolchildren to sightseers from all over the world.

The bed is the dominant feature in the room, it dates from 1774 and was made for Newliston House on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

There are many fine paintings on the walls, some by well-known artists, a neo-classical revival marble fireplace and an 1802 square piano of which a recording of it being played can be heard in the background in this room.

The colour scheme is based on research carried out by the trust into Culzean Castle which was being decorated at the time Charlotte Square was being built.

Here there is a short film which introduces the visitors to the history of the New Town, and to the lifestyle of the Lamont family and their servants in around the year 1810.