Lumsden's Court, Leith

Category

Library Item

Item no

4735

Title

Lumsden's Court, Leith

Description

Lumsden's Court, Leith with two of its inhabitants. The decaying tenement buildings are constructed round a courtyard. The rounded tower of the external stair can be seen. A gas lamp is attached to a wall and washing pulleys hang out of some of the windows. A child hangs over the balustrade of a set of stairs, perhaps watching over the younger girl in a white pinafore, who is playing in the yard.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1924

Size

19.7 x 15.9 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

Architecture > Architectural features > Stairways

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Leith

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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