Playfair, William Henry, RSA
1789 – 1857
William Henry Playfair was the youngest son of the architect James Playfair, his uncle was Professor John Playfair a mathematician and geologist. In 1804 William Henry Playfair moved from London to Edinburgh and studied under the architect William Stark. In 1813 he returned to London and worked in the offices of James Wyatt and Sir Robert Smirke. In 1817 he won the competition to complete Robert Adam's scheme for Edinburgh University. In the course of his career he designed many of the best loved building in Edinburgh including the Royal Scottish Academy, formerly the Royal Institution Building, the National Gallery of Scotland, New College, the National Monument on Calton Hill and the Observatory. He became a Royal Scottish Academcian in 1829 and resigned on the ground of ill health in 1845.
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