Leaflet on General Register House - National Archives of Scotland

GENERAL REGISTER HOUSE

GENERAL REGISTER HOUSETHE ‘ADAM DOME’The top-lit domed rotunda is the most importantroom in Register House. At 50 feet in diameter and80 feet in height, and with an area in excess of2000 square feet, it is also Adam’s highest andlargest surviving room. Inspired by the Pantheonin Rome, the only source of natural light is thecentral oculus, 15 feet in diameter. Originallydesigned as a public space giving access to differentareas of the building and for the storage of recordvolumes, it also served as a legal search roomfrom 1923 until 2007. The rotunda was renovatedin 2008 as part of the ScotlandsPeople Centre forfamily history research.In 1785 Thomas Clayton junior, an Edinburgh-basedplasterer who had worked for Robert Adam atInveraray Castle, was awarded the contract forcompleting the plasterwork according to Adam’sdesign. The eight medallions were chosen inLondon by Adam himself, at a total cost of £33 12s.and were shipped to Edinburgh in 1786. Five ofthem are based on antique bas reliefs depictingRoman marriage and civic ceremonies, while theremaining three appear to be contemporarydesigns illustrating scenes from Greek myths andlegends. Their iconography is thereforeunconnected with the purpose of the building.Adam’s introduction of Scottish thistles into theanthemion frieze forming the first band of ceilingdecoration acknowledged the building’s nationalidentity.

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF SCOTLANDWe know from surviving accounts for painting therotunda ceiling that Adam’s original decorativescheme comprised a stone coloured (ie off-white)background, with the decorative details picked outin white. This scheme was confirmed byinvestigations by Historic Scotland conservators in2003 and 2007. They also established that the stonecolour was subtly shaded rather than flat, and thatthe background of the medallions and the plasterornaments around the oculus had been painted ina delicate blueish-grey shade. Stone colour wasalso used on the rotunda walls and throughout themost of the rest of the building. A sample ispreserved in the west lobby of the rotunda.Adam favoured such monochromatic white andstone-coloured schemes for libraries and halls,usually reserving polychromy and gilding for thedrawing rooms and dining rooms of his greathouses. Successive redecorations of the rotundafrom the mid-nineteenth century onwards,however, gave rise to more colourful schemes,derived from what was then understood to be theAdam style, but lacking the sophistication of theoriginal. While the present decorative scheme,completed in 2008, closely follows Adam’s originalconcept, it also includes elements from laterversions, such as the gilding, which was firstintroduced in 1850.The cast-iron railing surrounding the gallery wasdesigned by Adam, manufactured by Carron & Co.of Falkirk, and installed in 1788.

GENERAL REGISTER HOUSESTATUE OF KING GEORGE IIIThe overlife-sized, standing statue of King George IIIin his coronation robes was commissioned in 1787 byLord Frederick Campbell from his niece the amateursculptor Anne Seymour Damer (1749-1828). It wasoriginally placed in the centre of the rotunda in1795. The gilt metal crown and sceptre are byVulliamy of London, the royal clockmaker, whosupplied the clock and wind dial for the building’sturrets. The statue was conserved in 2008.