The hit tv series A House Through Time tells the story of the residents of one house from its beginnings until today.
Series 6 currently airing in the UK features an address in the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh.
For photohistorians, episode 2 is a real treat.
A House Through Time: Edinburgh, episode 2
It features the celebrated Edinburgh photographer Archibald Burns (1831-1880), who in 1866 moved with his wife Jane into number 22 Calton Hill.
The programme traces his emergence in the late 1850s as an accomplished amateur photographer who worked by day as a bookseller’s clerk.
At this point, Burns was a regular correspondent of the weekly Photographic News published in London.
The paper had launched in 1858 and its market was the growing band of amateur photographers in Britain.
As one of its enthusiastic readers, Burns had a pivotal role in the first Stereoscopic Exchange Club launched by the paper the following year.
This aspect of his photographic life was uncovered by Rebecca Sharpe of the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy (BMAS) in a recent article for Stereo World (volume 51, no. 3; Nov/Dec 2025).
As a keen and skilled stereographer, Burns was already living on Calton Hill where David Octavius Hill and John Adamson had set up their pioneering photographic studio in the 1840s.
This meant he was right at the heart of photographic activity in the city and was a founding member of the Edinburgh Photographic Society.
By the time Burns moved from 4 Calton Hill to number 22, his stereoscopic views of the city were widely admired.
His decision to give up his day job and launch a commercial photography business made total sense.
Next time, I’ll be featuring more Archibald Burns stereos of famous Edinburgh locations that have recently arrived in the Pressphotoman collection.
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