Adam Smith's former home goes on market

THE Edinburgh home where the pioneer of economics spent his final years has been put up for sale.

Adam Smith lived in Panmure House in the Old Town from 1778 until his death aged 67 in 1790.

The A-listed building has now been put up for sale by its owner, Edinburgh City Council, after it was deemed surplus to requirements.

The authoritative Adam Smith Institute today called on any new development within the building to remember its historic past and commemorate the close link it has with the economist.

It has been put on the market for offers over £700,000 but it is expected that a bid of over £1 million could be achieved.

The selling agent said that a change of use to residential is possible, although it could also prove an attractive building for residential or office use.

But it seems there is little chance that it will be transformed into an Adam Smith museum after Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, said funds could not be raised at such short notice.

"People have said that the Adam Smith Institute should try to buy it but you have to be realistic and I don't think there is time to raise £700,000 or more to buy it," said Dr Butler.

"Even if we thought we could manage to buy it, what can we do with it? Whether there are enough artefacts to make a museum that takes up a whole house is not known. But it would be nice if whoever buys it remembers him in some way and gives people something to look at."

Smith moved into the building with his mother just two years after his seminal work, An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was published.

The house, at Lochend Close, is close to Canongate Kirkyard, where Smith now lies after being buried in July 1790.

Kate Morgan, part of selling agent Rettie & Co's land and development department, said: "It is close to the Scottish Parliament and the planned new Caltongate development. Developers know that the area is up-and-coming so it is possibly a building that a local developer will buy and maybe sit on."

The building is currently used by the city council to provide extra support for pupils with social and emotional needs. The service is instead to be provided at the building that currently houses St Ann's Community Centre.

A city council spokeswoman said: "Many of Edinburgh's buildings have significant historical importance.

"So when considering the future of a building, we look at whether it's in the best interests of that building to remain in public ownership or be sold."