Robert Ord (1700-78) was a politician who spent much of his later life in Scotland. He was educated at Lincoln’s Inn and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1723 and called to the bar in 1724. Ord sat for Mitchell, Cornwall, 1734-1745, and later for Morpeth, Northumberland and represented the interests of Henry Howard, 4th earl of Carlisle. In 1755, with the support of Howard, he became Chief Baron of the Scottish Exchequer and moved to Edinburgh. He was described by James Boswell as a ‘respectable English judge [who] will be long remembered in Scotland, where he built an elegant house and lived in it magnificently’ (Mc Connell, 2004). He was also one of the trustees for the Register House in Edinburgh, designed by Robert Adam. He retired in 1775 and died in 1778.

In 1770-71, the Adam office made designs for Robert Ord’s house at No. 8 Queen Street. Queen Street was laid at the north end of the New Town (prior to the extension of the New Town from the end of the eighteenth century) facing onto open fields. Adam designed a five-bay house with a central entrance, over a basement with extensive offices and a stables to the rear. He placed principal rooms on both the ground and first floors, with a central grand staircase and a canted bay to the rear which was probably used as a device to carry the circuit of rooms around the central staircase. It was the first Edinburgh house to have two drawing rooms on the first floor. The Soane Museum collection has floor plans and elevations, ceiling plans and elevations of chimneypieces relating to No. 8 Queen Street. There are also finished drawings for the same ceiling designs by the Adam office in the RIBA Drawings & Archives Collection.

The plans for the principal floors (ground and first floor) were reversed in execution, although it is not clear why this happened. It is also possible that the plasterer, Thomas Clayton Junior, who had worked on the Register House, also worked on Baron Ord’s house, although there is no conclusive evidence. The ceilings and chimneypieces for the drawing rooms, and the ceiling for the hall were executed, albeit with later alterations. It is not clear if the other surviving designs for ceilings or chimneypieces in the Soane Museum collection were executed and later removed, or not executed.

The house was altered in the early nineteenth century and the Adam fireplaces for the first drawing room (SM Adam volume 22/287) and second drawing room (SM Adam volume 22/288) were relocated to the hall and study respectively. These were later returned to their original rooms during restoration works in the 1990s.

In 1868 the house was bought by the Royal College of Physicians who already had their headquarters at the adjacent property, No. 9. The College bought No. 8 for its large vacant back green above the basement offices, which allowed for the erection of a new library as an extension to No. 9. The library was designed by architects David and John Bryce, who also refurbished the roof and attic of No. 8 in 1876. It is likely that the current configuration of the mansard roof and dormer windows relates to those alterations. Aside from the new library, the remainder of No. 8 was let to a series of tenants, including the Edinburgh Institution (later renamed Melville College), and the Office of Works.

In 1957, the Royal College of Physicians took over No. 8 completely and embarked on some minor renovations, including works to link it directly to the hall of No. 9 and the insertion of a new reading room into the first drawing room on the first floor. In 1990-91 the Historic Buildings Council advocated for the restoration of the interiors to complete the integrity of the design, aided by a grant from Historic Scotland. Simpson and Brown architects, with the help of Ian Gow, subsequently restored the interior of No. 8 in the 1990s. New ceilings, based on the Adam office drawings, were added to the former study and eating room, and the ceilings in the hall and drawing rooms were restored. New chimneypieces were also added to the hall, study, eating room and first floor bedchamber based on a variety of Adam office drawings, some originally for other properties. There are a number of unattributed interior decorative features, for which there are no surviving drawings, which were also restored at that time. These include cornices, friezes and bookshelves, all of which appear to be contemporary with Adam's work.

Literature: A.T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume II, Index, 1922, pp. 12, 83; J. Gifford, C. McWilliam & D. Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, 1984, pp. 317-319; M. Brune, ‘The Restoration of Number 8 Queen Street’ in Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, vol. 21, 1991, pp. 475-482; W. R.M. Kay, ‘The Restoration of Number 8 Queen Street’ in Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, vol. 22, 1992. 22, pp. 97-101; I. Gow & J. Simpson, ‘8 Queen Street Edinburgh: Restoring an Adam House’ in The Journal of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland: Robert Adam, Heritage IV, 1993, pp. 58-65; D. King, The Complete Works of Robert & James Adam and Unbuilt Adam, Volume 1, 2001, p. 123; D. King, Adam Ceilings: A Geometric Study, 2020, p. 245; A. McConnell, ‘Robert Ord (1770-1778)’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online, 2004, [accessed 08 February 2023]

With thanks to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Library and Archives team.

Louisa Catt, 2023