Great Junction Street

Category

Library Item

Item no

38322

Title

Great Junction Street

Artist / maker

Valentine, James

Date

1913

Size

15.9 x 25.0 cm

Type

Photograph; Reproduction

Great Junction Street was first proposed in the early 19th century, with the intention of linking Leith docks with Ferry Road and Leith Walk, and to enable traffic from the docks to bypass Leith's old narrow streets. Building started with Junction Bridge in 1818 but the road linking it with Bonnington Road was not built until the late 1830s, allowing traffic from the docks to reach Leith Walk.

At first there were very few buildings in Great Junction Street and they were mostly at the Leith Walk end, such as Junction Road Church which was built in 1824-25, before most of the street was surfaced, and Dr Bell's School, founded to teach the Madras Method of education, which was built in 1839. Otherwise, Great Junction Street was mainly occupied by timber merchants, builders and other businesses that took up a lot of space.

However, by the 1890s the entire street was built up. Some of the buildings have been replaced over the years, such as the South Leith Poorhouse, which stood on the site now occupied by Taylor Gardens, with Hawthorn's Engineering works, built in 1846, next to it on the site later occupied by the State Cinema. St James' Episcopal School, just to the right of the image, was demolished in the early 1960s to be replaced by Telectra House, which was built by Leith Provident Cooperative Society in 1963 and was itself demolished in 2003 and replaced by flats.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Clocks and clock towers

Business > Advertising > Signs

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

People > Adults > Groups

People > Children

Places > Edinburgh areas > Leith

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Churches

Transport > Infrastructure > Cobbled streets

Transport > Infrastructure > Street lights

Transport > Infrastructure > Tramlines

Transport > Land > Horse and carts