Regency Hot Spots: Edinburgh New Assembly Rooms

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per end of the city The New Assembly Rooms George's Street were built by subscription and finished in 1787 The ex ternal appearance of the building is by no means striking but the elegant accommodation within makes ample compensation for any defects of outward appearance The principal ball room is 92 feet long 42 feet wide and 40 feet in height It is lighted by eleven large crystal lustres and has an organ at its upOn one side in a circular recess and at a convenient height is the orchestra There is also a tea room 52 feet long by 35 in breadth which serves for the dancing room of the card assemblies There are two card rooms 32 feet by 18 and a grand saloon 24 feet square besides other smaller rooms In 1818 a portico was erected in the front of this building supported by four Doric columns which gives it a more attractive appearance than it formerly exhibited Two assemblies are held weekly through the winter the one a dancing the other a card assembly The cardparties are rather select than numerous but the dancing assemblies are well frequented Picture of Edinburgh (1825)

BALLROOM-The New Assembly Rooms

Funded through public subscription, the New Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh were centrally located on George Street in the Georgian era New Town.

New Town was “designed to house the wealthy and attract back to Scotland the absentee noblemen who now lived in London” with luxury retail, fine new houses, symmetrical streets, and open squares (BBC – History – British History in depth: The Rise of Edinburgh).  This investment would see dividends with a boom in the financial industry, including the formation of many new banks to support industrialization.  The New Assembly Rooms were a continuation of the seduction of London aristocrats, and once completed in the beginning of the 19th Century demonstrated an elegance thought to “exceed that of the Great Room in Bath” (Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms: A Potted History | EdinburghGuide.com).

rous but On these nights the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms perhaps present as fine a display of beauty as is any where to be seen The Scottish ladies are celebrated for their beauty and graceful walking and rouge has not been so universally introduced as to destroy the colours laid on by the pencil of nature Minuet dancing so much the taste of the last age has in our assemblies given way in a great measure to the more lively motions of the country dance and when a brilliant circle of our fair country women are engaged in these tripping on the light fantastic toe indifference
ference itself is hardly secure from the softer impressions 382 Picture of Edinburgh (1806)

In August 1822 the Assembly Rooms hosted ‘The Peers Ball’, which marked the occasion of King George IV’s visit to Edinburgh.

Eyewitnesses recounted a crowd gathered outside to watch the traffic descend upon George Street and the arrival of King George; “…the sudden rush of carriages, the roaring of coachmen and the impatient objurations of the Highland [sedan] chairmen, enforced by the furious driving of their poles, threatened more than once to shake the democracy from its propriety!”

The ton of Edinburgh arrived for the Peers Ball in their finest toggery: “The ladies were in most elegant white dresses, richly bespangled and had on plumes of white ostrich feathers, their plumage in constant undulation, appearing to the eye like an ocean of foam”. The men meanwhile had either opted for formal court dress, or had taken the opportunity to wear tartan, which was newly fashionable during the King’s visit. Other noblemen and gentlemen gaily disported themselves in the mountain garb.”

Here is one account of an early 19th century visitor to the Assembly Rooms:

At Edinburgh and at other places I had an opportunity of remarking the passion of the Scotch for dancing and the skill which they display in the art A short time previous to my departure from the capital I was present at a ball given in the New Assembly rooms in George's street which are înternally very splendid although their exterior has nothing to boast of in architecture The dance was not in the principal ball room which however I saw This is a noble room ninetytwo feet long forty two wide and forty high is lighted by eleven large crystal lustres and has an organ at one end The ball was under the management of a directress a lady of rank Gow the son of the famous performer of that name presided at the orchestra and showed that the taste and uncommon spirit of the father had not perished with him Many beautiful women adorned the festive scene and they as well men exhibited much skill and grace in dancing particularly in Scottish dances to which they are very partial The national gravity of countenance was however visible and particularly amongst the young men as the Caledonian Sketches, Or, A Tour Through Scotland in 1807 (1809)

Read about some of the rules for the New Assembly Rooms on this site: https://www.regencydances.org/paper025.php#edinburgh

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