Royal Institution
- Reference:GB 1716 RSA1/12/5
Administrative / Biographical History
Erected with public funds in 1822 to designs by William Henry Playfair (1790-1857) and opened in 1825, the building was extended to the South in 1832 again under Playfair’s direction, and following internal refurbishment by William Thomas Oldrieve (1853-1922), Architect for Scotland in H M Office of Works, in c.1909-10, it became the home of the Royal Scottish Academy from 1911. The building, was adminsitered by the Board of Trustees for Encouraging Manufactures, whose members were drawn largely from the landed gentry. Part of the Board’s remit was the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland. Its Secretaries during the sometimes fractious relationship with the Academy were James Skene of Rubislaw (1775-1864) who served 1822-39, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall (1784-1848) who served 1839-48, and the more pragmatic Hon Bouverie Francis Primrose (1813-98) who served from 1848 until at least 1865. The Academy paid a rent of about £300 per annum for the use of its exhibition rooms for its Annual Exhibitions which were held there from 1836. Relations between the two bodies became strained in 1845 when the Board refused to grant the Academy the use of rooms for its Annual Exhibitions on the grounds that they had allocated that space for the display of the Torrie Collection which had been accepted by the University of Edinburgh in 1836, which had then lent the collection of Old Masters to the Royal Institution. Accusations and allegations were made about the Academy spreading lies about the arrangements for its accommodation i8n the RI building. The board finally withdrew the allegations it had made against David Octavius Hill, the President, and the Council of the Academy in 1846. The Royal Institution Building hosted Annual Exhibitions of Ancient Pictures (the majority owned by the gentlemen and noblemen who numbered amongst its Trustees) for which admission was charged. It also showed the work of some living artists who were associated to the Institution. It was the defection of a large number of these in 1826 which led ultimately to the founding of the Scottish Academy, those who had chosen to remain, switching to the Academy under the Hope-Cockburn Award of 1829. The building also housed the Trustees Academy as well as the offices of bodies as diverse as the Society of Antiquaries for Scotland and the Herring Fisheries Board.
Related Material
Vide also RSA Council Minutes Book 1844-1850 for copies of the following and other related printed documents