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Royal Exchange, High Street
Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer, 1829, Engraving
Royal Exchange, High Street
Royal Exchange, High Street
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About this image
Related
Location
Category
Library Item
Item no
18660
Title
Royal Exchange, High Street [City Chambers]
Description
The Royal Exchange in Edinburgh has an arcaded walkway. There is sculpted stonework showing the city coat of arms on the pediment which is above columns. Men with top hats and frock coats and women with bonnets and parasols walk around the courtyard from which stairs lead down to a signposted coffee shop.
Artist / maker
Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer
Engraver
Watkins, W
Date
1829
Size
10.2 x 15.0 cm
Type
Engraving
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection
This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.
City Chambers was designed by John Adam and built between 1753-61. It was intended as premises for a merchant exchange, but this was not entirely successful and the building was overtaken by Edinburgh Council during the 19th century. The council instigated significant extensions to the building in the years around 1900. The building was constructed over several Old Town closes. One of these subterranean streets, Mary King's Close, is now open to the public.
Exhibitions with this item
Shepherd's Modern Athens
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Related images
Related subjects
Architecture
>
Architectural features
>
Arcades (Architectural components)
Architecture
>
Architectural features
>
Arches
Architecture
>
Architectural features
>
Doors and doorways
Architecture
>
Architectural features
>
Quadrangles (Courtyards)
Architecture
>
Architectural features
>
Windows
Business
>
Service industry
>
Merchant's exchanges
Clothing and dress
>
Accessories
>
Hats
Clothing and dress
>
Garments
>
Dresses
Clothing and dress
>
Garments
>
Jacket
Clothing and dress
>
Garments
>
Trousers
Furnishings
>
Ornamentation
>
Lanterns
People
>
Adults
>
Men
People
>
Adults
>
Women
Places
>
Edinburgh areas
>
Old Town
Places
>
Scotland
>
Edinburgh
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The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries