47-60 George Square, east side, looking north

Category

Library Item

Item no

6066

Title

George Square - east side, looking north, nos. 47 to 60

Description

A view along the east side of George Square, Edinburgh. A row of three storey Georgian townhouses line the right side of the road. The wide road is cobbled and four boys are standing on it posing for a picture. Gas street lines line each side of the road. Trees on the left-hand side are overhanging the road.

Artist / maker

Gibb, Andrew A.

Date

1913

Size

7.5 x 11.2 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image has been chosen for the Edinburgh - Past and Present Exhibition by Sheena McDonald, Journalist and Broadcaster - "I find this image heart-breaking. Four small boys animate what was for decades an architectural jewel in Edinburgh's crown. A speculative builder (there's a mighty heritage of them in Edinburgh!) called James Brown laid George Square out in 1766, and building started on this early flight from the crowded Old Town murk before the New Town! It survived for almost two centuries before one of the most villainous all-time acts of vandalism was carried out by the University of Edinburgh in the 1960s, when they destroyed all but one of the terraces to make room for what's there now. I'm a lifelong supporter of the University, but grieve that I, and Edinburgh-lovers worldwide, never saw this east-side terrace, nor the south nor the entire north. This photograph was taken in 1912 by a local amateur - demonstrating that technical progress isn't always a bad thing!" Sheena McDonald.

George Square in Edinburgh is situated to the south of the meadows and the west of Buccleuch Street. It was designed by James Brown and begun in 1766, immediately before James Craig's far more ambitious New Town development. Only the west side and a fragment of the north-east corner of the original square of terraced houses remains. On the north side the university's psychology department is housed in a late 19th century building, formerly George Watson's Ladies College. The rest has been replaced by large purpose built university buildings, constructed in the 1960's.

This is a photograph by a member of the Edinburgh Photographic Society.

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Related subjects

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

People > Children > Boys

Places > Edinburgh areas > Southside

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Infrastructure > Roads

Transport > Infrastructure > Street lights