The Poor House of Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

5419

Title

A perspective view of the Poor House of Edinburgh as it now stands unfinished

Description

A man and women walk along a pathway towards the poorhouse in Edinburgh's Old Town. Fencing is around the building and the walkway.

Artist / maker

Elphinstone, John

Engraver

Parr

Date

1740

Size

21.2 x 33 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image is taken from a volume in our collections entitled, "Fifteen Views of the most remarkable buildings of the City of Edinburgh by the Honorable J. Elphinstone" which unfortunately is not complete or in its original condition.
The images from this volume are credited to John Elphinstone although there is some uncertainty around the authorship of some of the pictures. The first three in the volume, (‘A view of the new-bridge of Edinburgh, with the adjacent buildings of the Old and New-Town’, ‘A view of the abby - church in ruins, from the north west’ and ‘A view of St. Roques - Church in ruins from the north east’) have a slightly different feel and style to the rest of the images and the image of the original North Bridge pre-dates the bridge itself.

For further information, please view the exhibition page for The "most remarkable buildings of the city of Edinburgh" by the Honorable J. Elphinstone.

Edinburgh's Charity Workhouse, built in 1743, stood immediately to the west of what is now Forrest Road. The Charity Workhouse and the nearby Bedlam were all removed in the 1870s, and a new poorhouse was established in Craiglockhart.

Exhibitions with this item

Other views of this item

Related images

Related subjects

Government > Local > Work houses

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

(55°56′45″N, 3°11′32″W)

Read how our collections have inspired people taking part in events, visits and community groups. Use the slider or navigation arrows to see more responses.