Entrance to Aitchison's Close, West Port

Category

Library Item

Item no

19211

Title

Entrance to Aitchison's Close, West Port

Artist / maker

Channing, William

Date

1854

Size

26.5 x 20.5 cm

Type

Wash drawing

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Aitchison's close at the West Port is a street that continues west from Edinburgh's Grassmarket towards Lothian Road. It was the site of the western entrance to Edinburgh through the city wall.

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 > Walls

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Infrastructure > Closes

Transport > Infrastructure > Cobbled paths

Transport > Infrastructure > Street lights

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