Cadell House is situated in a secluded location, off Canongate between the restored 17th century public garden, Dunbar Close, stretching the length of one of the long burgh plots and behind the 1930s residential development by Sir Basil Spence which fronts the Canongate. Cadell House is a good survival of an 18th century merchants house retaining its original plan form. The blind gable elevation shows evidence of earlier openings which are now blocked. William Cadell (between 1668 & 1728), was a renowned merchant and freeman of the town. His grandson, also William, was one of the founders of the Carron Company Ironworks in Falkirk which was the largest of its type in Europe during the 18th and early 19th century. The house was restored as flats in 1954.
Cadell House was linked to the infamous Adam Smith FRSA (16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) Scottish economist, philosopher and author as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776).