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The Old City Observatory
The Old City Observatory
In addition to the famous monuments on Calton Hill, the old City Observatory can be found here.
Inspired by a Greek temple of the Four Winds, the building was designed by William Henry Playfair in 1818. The first Astronomer Royal to work in this building was Professor Thomas Henderson, appointed 1834, who had discovered how to measure parallax and the distance to a star while in his previous job in South Africa
Edinburgh's City Observatory, also known as the Playfair Observatory, is a fascinating place, where the optimism and excitement of early scientific advances can still be felt.
Old Observatory House is available to rent. Details can be found at the Vivat Trust website.
Images of the Old City Observatory and Calton Hill can be found on Capital Collections.
Find out more about the City Observatory and its fascinating history.
Where to find us.
Read about the telescopes and other artefacts in the Observatory.
Old Observatory House was built by James Craig between 1776 and 1793. Usually called the “architect of the New Town”, James Craig built few actual buildings and most of those have now been demolished. Old Observatory House is the most outstanding example of the very few extant buildings by Craig.
The City Dome was built in 1896 at the time the Observatory proper was being moved to Blackford Hill.