Home Street - Looking West from Tollcross

Category

Library Item

Item no

6136

Title

Home Street - looking west from Tollcross

Description

Travelling along the cobblestone road in Home Street, Edinburgh, is a horse and carriage. It passes by shops with goods displayed in windows most noticeable being a display of hats. A statue of a horse is prominent on a nearby roof. A tram uses one set of the many tramlines in the road and pedestrians cross the road. Tenement buildings and the silhouette of Barclay Church can be seen.
This is a photograph by a member of the Edinburgh Photographic Society.

Artist / maker

Berry, R.

Date

1914

Size

6.7 x 9.5 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

In the 1870s a Royal Riding Academy was established on Home Street, or West Tollcross as it was known at the time. The academy was owned by John Player, but by 1914 had been taken over by James Fairburn Player. Above the house was a lifesize model of a horse, as can be seen in this picture. The academy building was later converted into the Cavendish Ballroom and which is still operating as a nightclub today.

The horse statue originated from the New Veterinary College (not to be confused with the Dick vet) which was situated at 41 Elm Row. This building later became the Gateway Theatre (see item 4380), and then student flats. In the courtyard was a statue of a group of animals, by John Rhind: a standing horse, a recumbent bull and a recumbent dog. After the college closed, the horse went to stand on the Royal Riding Academy at Tollcross, though it seems to have had a short life there, as it had gone by about 1930 and its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Monuments > Statues

Business > Advertising > Displays

Business > Service industry > Shops

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Tollcross

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Horse and carriages

Transport > Land > Trams

(55°56′34″N, 3°12′13″W)

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