City Observatory

City Observatory, Edinburgh

Front of the Playfair Building
Alternative names	Edinburgh, Calton Hill, City Observatory
Observatory code	961
Location	Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland
Coordinates	55°57′17″N 3°11′0″W / 55.95472°N 3.18333°W / 55.95472; -3.18333
Altitude	107 m
Established	1776
Closed	2009
Telescopes
Cooke / McEwan refractor, 15 cm aperture Fraunhofer / Repsold transit telescope, 16 cm aperture
Location of City Observatory, Edinburgh
Related media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The City Observatory was an astronomical observatory on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is also known as the Calton Hill Observatory.

The site is enclosed by a boundary wall with a monument to John Playfair, president of the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution, in the southeast corner. The oldest part is the Gothic Tower in the southwest corner, facing Princes Street and Edinburgh Castle. It is also known as Observatory House, the Old Observatory, or after its designer James Craig House. The central building with the appearance of a Greek temple is the Playfair Building, named after the building's designer William Henry Playfair. This houses the 6-inch (15 cm) refractor in its dome and the 6.4-inch (16 cm) transit telescope in its eastern wing. The largest dome of the site is the City Dome in the northeast corner. During the early 20th century this contained a 22-inch (56 cm) refractor. In 2018, the entire site was restored and new buildings were added.^[1] The City Observatory site was opened freely to the public for the first time on 24 November 2018 as Collective, a centre for contemporary art.^[2]