
1877
Raeburn Place was built 1814-25 in the grounds of the estate owned by Henry Raeburn, the portrait painter. It was developed as a mixture of tenements and villas, one of which was Somerset Cottage, later to become the Raeburn House Hotel.
The map shows the existence of both the Edinburgh Academical ground and the Grange Cricket Club on the edge of the suburbs, bounded by fields. To the south lies a public park, highlighting the existence of leisure facilities in the area prior to the creation of Inverleith Park and the development of the city.

1896
Inverleith Park was laid out by the city council in 1890. It lies to the north of the site and to the west of the Royal Botanic Gardens, which moved to their current location from Leith Walk in 1822.
The map of 1896 shows the gradual development of Comely Bank which was developed from William Fettes estate.

1944
By 1944 the area surrounding the site is fully developed, and the two villas contemporary to Somerset Cottage have been lost to tenements. With such development the site clearly becomes part of the boundary that separates the dense residential area of Stockbridge and Comely Bank with the open and greener areas to the north.
Somerset Cottage has itself been through a few changes, with the first alterations occurring in 1925. Plans show vertical subdivision of the house in order to provide two houses for staff of Edinburgh Academy.

1973
The largest addition to the area, shown by the map of 1973, is Broughton High School. The school was established in 1887 and moved to the current site in the 1980s. The building has since been replaced, reopening in 2009 but remaining in the same location.
It was during the 1970s that Somerset Cottage became the Raeburn House Hotel, after Edinburgh Academy sold the building in the late 1960s. It briefly functioned as a guesthouse before changing to a hotel in the 70s. It was then that any traces of the house’s original parlour and kitchen were lost through alterations.
