Calton Hill

This guide to Calton Hill in Edinburgh follows architect William Henry Playfair through two very different projects he built at the same time in the 1820s: a grand monument to Scotland's soldiers meant to rival the Parthenon, and a row of townhouses on the hill's other slope. You'll hear how one project ran short of money almost immediately while the other drew wealthy merchants eager for a view of their own ships. It traces how Edinburgh came to nickname both the hill's failure and its fortune within sight of each other.