Georgian House, Edinburgh

Georgian House is the restored townhouse at No. 7 Charlotte Square, presenting an eighteenth-century home in Edinburgh’s New Town. The National Trust for Scotland furnished it as a visitor attraction, and more than 40,000 people come here each year.

Its most distinctive story is domestic: the rooms have been arranged to show how the Lamont family may have lived around the turn of the nineteenth century. The house was completed in 1796, when John Lamont bought it for £1,800 as a city residence for the social season. His wealth came from inherited land and tenant rents, but extravagant spending and debts eventually forced him to sell.

In 1815, he parted with the property for £3,000. Later residents included Catherine Farquharson, a woman of independent wealth; the lawyer and judge Charles Neaves; and the minister Alexander Whyte. During the Whytes’ occupancy, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, stayed here in 1913 during a tour of the United Kingdom. The building is also a category A listed building.