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George St in Edinburgh

I have never opened such a beautiful shop", proclaimed Jo Malone on the recent opening night of her new store in George Street, Edinburgh.

And she was right. With its lofty, Regency ceiling and immaculate cornice, the space had a headstart in terms of raw architectural superiority. All that Jo had to do was have it painted white to attain the perfect balance of space and light for displaying her sought-after scents.

It's no accident that Jo Malone, now part of the Estée Lauder empire, should have chosen George Street as the next key location to open outside London and New York. The street, named after King George III, which formed the axis of James Craig's 1766 plan for the New Town, is fast becoming a magnet for upmarket, international retailers. And with Whistles, Jigsaw Men, Space NK, Decorum and Penhaligons all taking up residence in the past year alone, George Street has put itself firmly on the agenda of the ladies (and gents) who lunch, shop and enjoy the odd stylish tipple.

The architects of the New Town could hardly have imagined such a situation. But it is their elegant, disciplined, Graeco-Roman design and decoration that has contributed to it becoming so.

The work of Reid, Graham, Hamilton, Playfair, Rhind, Burn and Bryce is as relevant to modern retailing and leisure as it was to banks, insurance companies and homeowners of the early 19th century.

That said, even in the 1790s the first ground-floor shops were already taking shape. All it took was the addition of a doorpiece and bigger windows. Pilastered shopfronts became popular in the 1820s (as seen at Trotters and Neals Yard) as did grander colonnades at street level (Justerini & Brooks, number 45, originally built in 1829).

Because of the width of the street, late Victorian architects could push even further out, and display windows began to bear less relation to the architecture above them. What is now the Coast shop at number 61, for example, has a Victorian frontage but is late Georgian inside, while the sleek, marble frontage of Escada belies the Georgian house that it occupies; and the effervescent brasserie Browns, at 131, was an original house of c.1790, whose ground floor was later built out into a smoky sheet glass frontage.

Inside, the early Edinburgh shops typically featured a rear saloon, an impressive example of which is Hamilton & Inches at no 87, built originally in 1835 by David Bryce for the jeweller J&G Hunter Marshall with interior Corinthian columns. The building now housing Hobbs and Phase 8, at no 47, was extended in much the same way in 1880 for the jeweller James Crichton: little changed today, it is one of the most civilised shopping environments in the world.

Buildings that did not start life as shops were peopled by bankers and assurance clerks. The Cashmere Store, for example, at no 67, was designed in 1867 for the Crown Insurance Company. French Connection (no 68) was built in 1955 for Sun Alliance Assurance. The former Pearl Assurance building, an early modern movement building of 1924, occupies the corner with Castle Street and will soon house a brand new Thomas Pink and a trendy bar.

Speaking of which, how many cities can claim more architecturally sumptuous places for eating and drinking than the Dome, the Standing Order and All Bar One?

The domed atrium and Corinthian banking hall of what was the Royal Bank (Rhind, 1847), the Ionic porches and elaborate ceiling of the original Union Bank at no 62-66 (David and John Bryce 1874-8), and the pilasters and porticos of David Bryce's Edinburgh and Leith Bank, later the Clydesdale Bank (1841) make extraordinary surroundings for revelling.

They are all the more remarkable for attracting youthful custom in the minimalist era. The Intercontinental George Hotel, meanwhile, started life as three houses in the 1780s, to which neo-classical colonnading and other features were added at the behest of the Caledonian Insurance Company. It only became the George Hotel in 1950.

Among the bars and boutiques are some familiar institutions that have clung to their George Street heritage through the centuries. The Assembly Rooms (1787) have always been a music hall and ballroom; the neo-Palladian Standard Life Assurance building (no 1) opened in 1897 and is still occupied by the company today; the Freemasons Hall has always stood at its present site, as has the Church of Scotland office at number 121, built in 1909 for the United Free Church of Scotland, and considered avant-garde at the time.

In the first floor window of number 84, home to the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses since 1973, twinkles a model lighthouse. Across the street James Gray & Son, 'by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen suppliers of cleaning materials', has occupied its premises for nearly 175 years: a steadfastly workaday institution amidst the luxury.

It is an exciting time in the development of this pivotal street.

And what of the future? Pedestrianisation?

Perhaps. Chanel? Ralph Lauren? Who knows. The chance to indulge your credit card? Most definitely. Whatever the next big thing in this extraordinary street, however, at number 126 you will find a sobering reminder of its former financial incarnation. It's the Office of the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

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