page_title: Grassmarket
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Grassmarket / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: The north-east corner of the Grassmarket, Edinburgh (composite)
context_page_description: The Grassmarket is a historic market place and an event space in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In relation to the rest of the city it lies in a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels.
context_section_description: The old market area is surrounded by pubs, clubs, local retail shops, and two large Apex Hotels. Many students live in the Grassmarket, though its openness (due to the large market space) and proximity to the centre of town now tend to increase house prices. 
  The building dates range from 17th century to 21st century. The White Hart Inn dates from the early 18th Century and claims to be the oldest public house in Edinburgh and is said to have been visited by Robert Burns (1759–96), the Wordsworths (1803), William Burke and William Hare in the late 1820s.
  The City Improvement Scheme of 1868 cleared many of the slums and widened streets such as West Port, and the western group of buildings all derive from this plan. A further improvement plan in the 1920s by the City architect Ebenezer MacRae skilfully closed many of the gaps with faux Scots Baronial blocks, ironically all built as council housing.
  There are several modern buildings on its southern side.  Some properties were used by Heriot-Watt University, and its predecessor college, for teaching and research until the university moved fully to its new Riccarton campus (1974–92).  The Mountbatten Building of Heriot-Watt University was built in 1968) for the departments of electrical engineering, management and languages.  The Mountbatten building was converted and reopened as the Apex International Hotel in 1996.
  An example of 21st century architecture is Dance Base (2001) by Malcolm Fraser Architects, the Scottish National Centre for Dance, which runs back from a traditional frontage to a multi-level design on the slopes of the Castle rock; the design won a Civic Trust Award and Scottish Design Award in 2002.
caption: North-east corner of the Grassmarket. Up until 1764 public hangings took place on a spot just to the left of the yellow traffic sign. Thereafter, they were carried out in the Lawnmarket until the last hanging there in 1864.
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