1-5, Smith's Land, Leith looking south

Category

Library Item

Item no

4623

Title

1-5, Smith's Land, Leith looking south

Description

The back of Smith's Land in Leith showing the rounded external staircases. The tenements are in a poor state of repair with crumbling stonework. Many of the windows have pulleys outside them, drying the washing. Over the wall from the houses is probably a carter's yard. Many handcarts and wheels are strewn around the ground, most of them broken.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1924

Size

15 x 19.3 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This is part of a photographic survey made to accompany the Edinburgh (Leith) Improvement Scheme of 1924.

The Edinburgh (Leith) Improvement Scheme, 1924, was a plan for the regeneration of an area of Leith surrounding Constitution Street and to the north of Great Junction Street. The Town Council Minutes of 3rd April 1924 propose the demolition or reconstruction of "certain houses, courts, and alleys&unfit for human habitation". The concerns of William Robertson, Medical Officer of Health for the City and Royal Burgh of Edinburgh, were that the "narrowness, closeness, and bad arrangement, or the bad condition of the streets and houses&or the want of light, air, ventilation or proper conveniences or other sanitary defects&are dangerous or injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the buildings in the said Areas, or of the neighbouring buildings&". The scheme involved large-scale demolition in this area of Leith, and the re-housing of most displaced residents outwith the areas covered by the scheme.

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Related subjects

Furnishings > Equipment > Laundry

Homes > Residential buildings > Flats

Manufacturing Industry > Manufacturing facilities > Yards (Industrial)

Places > Edinburgh areas > Leith

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Carts and wagons

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