Records of Edinburgh Architectural Association, Edinburgh, Scotland

Description Records of Edinburgh Architectural Association, Edinburgh, Scotland

Date 1971

Collection Records of Edinburgh Architectural Association, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number 551 55

Category All Other

Scope and Content The Edinburgh Architectural Association deposited 14 manuscript boxes of office files and records comprising correspondence relating to visits, lectures etc; lists of members 1885-1901; a box of material from the 1930s including correspondence, memoranda, press-cuttings, etc, on such concerns as the necessity for private practices to be allowed to compete for large public schemes; a large collection of EAA syllabuses and those of related architectural societies; printed notices of meetings; and a box of miscellaneous papers relating to architectural education. In addition a large amount of material is held in the public search room relating to the Association including exhibition catalogues, nomination forms, papers by members and G S Aitken’s ‘History and Reminiscences of the Edinburgh Architectural Association. In most cases, these are bound photocopies of originals that are held by various outside organisations, including the RIAS and the National Library of Scotland. The Collection also includes a 1971 photographic survey of Edinburgh’s New Town, carried out in association with Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee by A L Hunter, Photography, and the Photographic Department of RCAHMS. The completed elevations were printed in 1971, and the mounted boards were subsequently transferred to RCAHMS by the RIAS in 1988. A number of sketchbooks and an album of press cuttings are also held in the Collection.

Archive History The manuscript component of this Collection was originally deposited at RCAHMS on temporary loan, and as such was neither accessioned nor catalogued. The miscellaneous books and records held in the public search room also have no associated accession number, and so it is not possible to give a date on which they entered the Collection. In 1988, the RIAS transferred the Edinburgh Architectural Association photographic survey of streets in Edinburgh’s New Town to the NMRS.

System of Arrangement Office files are stored at the end of the manuscript run in the Main Store. The photographic component of the Collection is housed within geographically arranged photographic boxes in the RCAHMS public search room.

Administrative History The Edinburgh Architectural Association was formed in 1858 by a group of young artistically inclined architectural students and apprentices in response to the Architectural Institute of Scotland’s exclusion of pupils. It is the third oldest architectural association in the UK, after the Royal Institute of British Architects and the London Architectural Association, and now encompasses the City of Edinburgh, West Lothian, Mid Lothian, East Lothian, Clackmannan and much of the Scottish Borders and Fife. The Association formed in response the exclusion of students and pupils from The Architectural Institute of Scotland, which was founded in 1850 by noblemen, landed proprietors, clergymen and lawyers from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen. The first official meeting of the Edinburgh Architectural Association was held in Darlings Hotel, Edinburgh and G S Aitken, a pupil at that time of J Dick Peddie was appointed President. By 1873 the vigour of the Edinburgh Architectural Association and its equivalent in Glasgow were such that The Architectural Institute of Scotland was deemed superfluous and ceased existence. Its assets and drawings were transferred to the Edinburgh Architectural Association for safekeeping. Membership currently stands at 1,370 [2009].

Accruals No further accruals are expected.

Accession Number 1993/65

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