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General view of Gardner's Crescent, Edinburgh, taken from the north-east.

DP 203798

Description General view of Gardner's Crescent, Edinburgh, taken from the north-east.

Date 5/8/2014

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number DP 203798

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content In 1722 the newly-formed Society and Fraternity of Gardeners in the Shire of Midlothian took possession of the land which was to become Nos 85-115 Morrison Street and Nos 1-25A Gardner’s Crescent. They built a large building called Gardeners’ Hall, which was sold on in 1731 at around the time when the Society seems to have been dissolved. Having passed through a number of owners, the land and the Hall came into the hands of Edinburgh solicitor William Gardner in 1821. He bought it with the intention of demolishing the Hall and constructing new high-value housing. In 1822 he commissioned architects and brothers, Richard (1792-1857) and Robert (c.1796-1851) Dickson to create the crescent, and the eastern half of the development was completed by 1826. The Morrison Street section, named Romilly Place, formed the south side of a short road, while Gardner’s Crescent was a new thoroughfare. The buildings were first mapped by John Wood in 1823. However, Wood, like many mapmakers at the time, made efforts to futureproof his map by showing streets which were still at the planning stage, including the west side of Gardner’s Crescent, and the putative grand Grove Square. The scheme owes much to the aesthetics of the New Town, with a precise, repeated design in a plain yet polished and imposing style. The Morrison Street – Gardner’s Crescent scheme was the first major project for the Dickson brothers. The following year, they built the now-demolished St David’s Church at the south end of Gardner’s Crescent with ‘Seats for 1100’. Until 1922 the Crescent terminated at this point, with no through road to Fountainbridge.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1461354

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap

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