Canongate houses

Category

Library Item

Item no

19188

Title

Canongate houses

Artist / maker

Channing, William

Date

1854

Size

25.2 x 17.4 cm

Type

Pencil work

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Canongate houses (now demolished) at head of Panmure and Dunbar's Closes. The house in the centre bore the date 1565 and was believed to have been the house of John Hunter, Burgh Treasurer in 1568.

William Channing's drawings and paintings from the bound volume of his 'Sketches in Edinburgh', give an artist's impression of tenement life in the mid 19th century. His drawings are glimpses into the past down the narrow Closes and alleyways of the Old Town. We see higgledy-piggledy houses and tenements towering skywards, laundry hanging from windows across the walkways and local characters talking in the streets.

Channing's delightful sketches are particularly valued for their representation of the architectural elements and details of buildings and closes now much changed or long since disappeared.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Chimneys

Architecture > Architectural features > Doors and doorways

Architecture > Architectural features > Roofs

Architecture > Architectural features > Stairways

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Canongate

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Infrastructure > Closes

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