What will we find around our hotel? Lots of restaurants for fine and casual dining, offering just about every global variation of cuisine.
- Eighteenth century architecture of the New Town of Edinburgh development beginning in the 1770s.
- Lovely 18th century crescents with private gardens.
- St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, late 19th century neo-Gothic building whose spire makes it the tallest building in the urban core of Edinburgh.
- Close connections for urban transportation.
Lace up your shoes and let’s go walking!
Our Edinburgh Grosvenor Hotel is located in the stylish West End. Restaurants abound, offering varieties of cuisine. Most conveniently, Haymarket station is 200 meters away from our hotel, where bus and tram stop offer access to all areas of the city, the airport, as well as mainline intercity rail connections.
We are within walking distance of the Georgian House: In the late 1700s, this grand townhouse was at the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town development. The house was designed by acclaimed architect Robert Adam and was true luxury in an era of enlightenment, for those who could afford it.
The house has been magnificently restored to show a typical Edinburgh New Town house of the late 18th and early 19th century. The fine collections of period furniture, porcelain, silver and glass reflect the social and economic context of the time. The kitchen and servants’ room give a glimpse of the arduous ‘below stairs’ life of the servants, who made an elegant lifestyle possible.
Green spaces can be enjoyed nearby with Charlotte Square; the townhouses of the many crescents in this area generally have private gardens behind them. Larger public green spaces are found with the squares.
I passed Coates Crescent frequently while on the tram line to Princes Street. As the New Town was developed in Edinburgh, incorporating graceful crescents was noted in city planning.
Interestingly, 12 Coates Crescent has been the official office of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society since the mid-1950s. The term ‘Scottish Country Dance’ embraces the social dances of Scotland that have evolved from many traditions and are danced throughout the world by Scots and non-Scots alike. Following the appearance of the country dance in Scotland in the early 18th Century, it underwent changes and adopted some of the characteristics of other dance forms such as Scotch Reels, Quadrilles and Waltzes, but perhaps the most notable change from the English style was the importance attached to precise footwork which is still upheld by the RSCDS.
St Mary’s Cathedral or the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary theVirgin is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Designed in a neo-Gothic style in the 1870s, the cathedral is now part of the Old Town and New Town of Edinburgh World Heritage Site. Reaching 295 ft, its spire makes the building the highest in the Edinburgh urban area.
In 1689, following the Glorious Revolution, Presbyterianism was restored in place of episcopacy in the national Church of Scotland. St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh came under the Established Church’s ministry, resulting in Episcopalians being left without a cathedral in Edinburgh.
The original construction was paid for by Barbara and Mary Walker, spinster sisters, providing funds for this purpose from 1873. The cathedral is built on the site of their garden.
St Mary’s Cathedral is the only cathedral in Scotland to maintain a tradition of daily choral services with choristers drawn from its own choir school.
St Mary’s Music School was founded to educate choristers of the cathedral and is now a separate specialist music school open to all pupils.
One of the best Italian restaurants in Edinburgh is within easy walking distance, on Dalry Road.
The Haymarket corner, with train connections, and a Starbucks, just around the corner.
The connections for trams to speed you “downtown,” again just around the corner from the Haymarket station.
