No, not the one whose fall was chronicled by Edgar Allan Poe, the American writer, in a story of supernatural horror.
Q: Which, then?
A: The Usher family of Edinburgh that made its fortune from brewing and whisky distilling. It's in the news because of the beneficence of Sir Andrew Usher, who was instrumental in popularising blended whiskies.
Q: What else did he do?
A: In 1896 he gave Edinburgh's city council (pounds) 100,000 to provide a civic hall. The Usher Hall, an Edinburgh landmark, was completed in 1913 and granted grade A-listed status in 1970. The city council yesterday announced plans for the next phase of the hall's refurbishment, expected to cost (pounds) 9m.
Q: Why should so much be spent on it?
A: Apart from being a landmark, it has very fine acoustics. Over the years, artists as diverse as Herbert von Karajan, Ella Fitzgerald, Claudio Abbado, Diana Ross, and Tony Bennett have performed there. Bing Crosby once turned up for a gig with his golf trolley. The ceremony to grant Sean Connery the freedom of Edinburgh took place in the hall.
Q: Is it modelled on any building?
A: Yes, Pear Tree House, built in Edinburgh in 1749 (so named after the pear tree planted in front of the house). It passed to the Ushers and Sir Andrew was born there in 1826. The design of the Usher Hall is based on the Pear Tree House dome.
Q: What became of the Ushers?
A: The family was once one of the most wealthy and powerful in Scotland, but, over the years, lost control of its vast fortune. In the 1990s it had to sell off Hallrule House, the stately family home, and its contents.
Q: Why?
A: To pay two sets of death duties. Sir Peter Usher had inherited the family title and when he died in 1990 it passed to his brother, Sir Robert, who died in 1994. Neither brother married or had sons, by convention the inheritors of the title.
Q: Was that the end of the Ushers?
A: No. Last year, Stuart Usher, a family descendant, petitioned the Scottish Parliament to stop the legal establishment regulating itself. At the time he was running a hot-dog stand and had issued a writ against an Edinburgh law firm for (pounds) 365m, claiming it had negligently managed a family trust.
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