- 01 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A view from the roof of the National Museum of Scotland
This is the fourth from a varied series of fragmentary Edinburgh images often based on architectural themes. The first is a National Museum of Scotland rooftop perspective looking east from the observation deck of its 2011 extension. The soft blue grey tones of the metal structure under a cloudless sky are punctuated by the browns of the stone drum under the dome on the Old College of Edinburgh University. The main 1888 Italianate museum building houses a magnificent collection within a superb combination of ironwork and stone.
- 02 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Domes on the Bank of Scotland building on The Mound
This second image frames two domed structures on the Bank of Scotland building dominating Princes Street from The Mound. Like a second citadel a little way east of the Castle it’s a complex structure built in a warm sandstone enhanced in colour by the late afternoon sun. A rising serpentine curve in the street at the this point brings one on a level whilst the ground to the left falls steeply towards gardens and railway and that to the right draws one upward into the density of High Street buildings in the Old Town.
- 03 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A view from Bedford Road 1 – Dean Village
Visiting the two Museums of Modern Art on Bedford Road I usually walk out from the city centre. The route wends through the formal designs and fine architecture of the western New Town and above the contrasting picturesque of the Dean Village. This view looks down narrow stairs whilst being overshadowed by the tall buildings and their retaining walls behind me.
- 04 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A view from Bedford Road 2 – Dean Village
A few yards further and a space between buildings opens to another narrow perspective. Nearby, the Dean Bridge crosses high above the Water of Leith as it flows through the village. Sometimes my Gallery route from the city centre takes me to the Botanic Garden before following the riverside Leith Walk westwards through Stockbridge and Dean Village. Some 12 miles in length it can be walked from Balerno in the west to the Firth of Forth at Leith.
- 05 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A Victoria Street shopfront 1
The descending curves of Victoria Street link George IV Bridge with the broad open spaces of the Grass Market. Horse and cattle markets were held here from the fifteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth. It was for over a century from 1660 the location of gallows used in public executions. Now Victoria Street is a picturesque parade of small shops particularly attractive to visitors as well as residents. On its north side the premises of Walker Slater, tweed specialists, offers ladieswear and is matched by a similar establishment for gentlemen just a few doors away.
- 06 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A Victoria Street shopfront 2
In a contrasting livery, The Boy Wizard looks at Walker Slater over granite setts from the other side of Victoria Street. The odd perspective is because it’s shot from Victoria Terrace, a walkway which roofs the shops on the north side of the street.
- 07 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A scaffolding and timber tower at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street is a predominantly Gothic Revival building designed by Robert Rowan Atkinson and completed in 1890. It was the first in the world devoted entirely to portraiture. Extensive restoration work from 2009 has doubled gallery space. The interior is quite incredible in both design and craftsmanship. It’s also home to the Scottish National Photography Collection. The long façade has four corner towers, one of which is encased in scaffolding in this 2018 image.
- 08 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Scaffolding shrouds the North Bridge above Waverley Station
The North Bridge of 1894-7 links High Street in the Old Town and Princes Street in the New and stands above the tracks and roof of the Waverley Station. It was constructed by Sir William Arrol & Company, better known for their involvement with the slightly earlier, larger and better known Forth Railway Bridge. This 2019 image shows a detail from the scaffolding encasing the whole structure during a major overhaul to be completed in 2021. Late afternoon sunshine created glowing colour absent earlier in the day.
- 09 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Drumsheugh Swimming and Turkish Baths Company
Edinburgh jaunts always involve at least one visit to the twin buildings of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art off Bedford Road. Walking there and back from Princes Street seems something of a long standing personal tradition. This Drumsheugh Swimming and Turkish Baths building is an architectural gem en route. Designed by Sir John James Burnett 1857-1938 at the end of the 19C the craftsmanship of this Mooresque exterior is matched by the superbly detailed interior. This I saw by invitation whilst recording the façade.
- 10 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Palm House at the Royal Botanic Garden 1858
The Royal Botanic Garden was established at Holyrood in 1670 and moved to this its third setting in 1820. 70 acres, once part of Sir James Rocheid’s estate, are home to plants from across the world in open sympathetic landscapes and extensive glasshouses. The Palm House of 1858 was designed by Robert Matheson in sandstone, iron and glass. Sir James’s Inverleith House of 1773 is used for exhibitions and between 1960 and 1984 was the first home of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
- 11 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A view from the National Museum of Scotland roof terrace
2011 brought the completion of a western extension to the 1888 National Museum of Scotland building to designs by architects Benson & Forsyth. It’s very different in both style and structure and incorporates a roof terrace. Views to the north are dominated by the Castle, buildings carrying impressive collections of chimney stacks and pots and this spire on the 1890 Edinburgh Central Library building on George IV Bridge.
- 12 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | A detail the roof scape across Chambers Street from the Museum
The red tiles in the foreground top the west wing of the original Museum building. Grey slates, metal and glass top the Government Crown Office on Chambers Street against a background of roofs and facades on Cowgate buildings. A longer lens would than that used here would help make a more rewarding detailed study.
- 13 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | An architectural detail from Cockburn Street
Cockburn Street rises as an elongated S from the Waverley Bridge by the station to the long High Street in the Old Town. It’s lined by small shops and cafes including Stills “…… a centre for photography based in the heart of Edinburgh. Established in 1977, we have a long history of supporting the advancement of, enjoyment, exploration and understanding of photography in Scotland.” This façade is set on the upper curve of the buildings as they merge into the architecture of High Street.
- 14 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | An acute perspective on Warriston’s Close stairs
This detail is from floors six and seven on a facade of the Edinburgh Municipal Building of 1904 taken from the narrowing Warriston’s Close stairs off Cockburn Street. The elaborately bold stonework is not easy to see and this camera angle seemed to me to be the most appropriate.. The lower floors are comparatively plain.
- 15 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Steps with iron railings set against a mews building
Some residents in the fine New Town houses had accommodation for carriages and coachmen: this example is set behind the main buildings. The Edinburgh Fragments 5 gallery depicts some doorway details from their grand façades.
- 16 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Nineteenth century housing on two levels
Steps are climbed to reach the front doors to the upper floor of these row houses. Out of sight in the street beyond, the front doors to the lower floors open to it through gardens. They were built originally from ca. 1850 for rent to skilled workers and give each household a garden space: the dormers are later additions.
- 17 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | Contrasting Gallery and art shop facades on Dundas Street
Edinburgh has a great collection of galleries and museums, both public and private with a parade of the latter on Dundas Street in the New Town. Some distant memories are from early childhood railway visits to Edinburgh by train and later the the excitements of the Edinburgh International Festival and its parallel Festival Fringe. The 1961 Epstein exhibition made a lasting impression both in its imagery and the memorable setting of the iron and glass of the Victorian era black granite sett paved Waverley Market, now sadly demolished.
- 18 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 4 | The Scottish Gallery on Dundas Street
A few doors up from the previous image the Scottish Gallery (“Contemporary Art since 1842”) presents monthly exhibitions featuring a broad spectrum of painting, sculpture and applied arts. The proportions of its façade with outline framed windows attracts as a setting for these, here led by landscape abstractionist John Brown. Careful visit planning can offer very concentrated exhibition going across the year with music venues, theatres and bookshops offering further diversions.