Architect. Burn was an Edinburgh-based architect and builder, perhaps best known as father of another architect, William Burn (1789 - 1870). Burn had a drawing academy in Picardy Place (Edinburgh), an area which he laid out. His best known works are the Hermitage of Braid (1785) and the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill (1808). He was also responsible for some later developments to the north of Edinburgh's New Town and in Leith.