At the bottom of Broughton Street stands a church building which in 1990 was semi-derelict and facing possible demolition. Only a few local residents and art specialists were aware of the spectacular mural decoration within, painted by Phoebe Anna Traquair. By 1990 this was in a shocking state of disrepair.
Michael Upton’s response (8 June) to my article (29 May) is revealing, not because it successfully dismantles the argument but because it repeatedly avoids engaging with it.
In the Spurtle on 29 May, Mike Worobec argued for two changes to the New Town’s communal gardens; first, an ‘expert-led’ programme of gardening and silviculture to ‘restore’ them, and secondly, allowing the public to ‘move through’ the gardens.
Few cities in the world are so intellectually and aesthetically deliberate as Edinburgh.
The annual Doors Open Days offer public access to buildings which are not usually accessible. In several senses, they reveal much about the city.
One of the things that appeals to visitors here is that so many museums and galleries are open to the public. In contrast, they are disheartened that so many seemingly ‘public’ places are strictly private: the gardens of the New Town being a classic example. Visitors (and some residents) peer longingly over fences and walls at the forbidden fruits within.
Last year, the New Town & Broughton Community Council along with relevant residents associations commissioned an independent Heritage Impact Assessment looking at the likely effects on the Edinburgh World Heritage Site of Council plans for bin-hubs.
That report, which also looks at the Council's proposed mitigative measures, has now been finished. It is available at the foot of this page.
Is the St James Quarter starting to rust?
Rather surprisingly, the answer may be yes. At least parts of it, if one local’s misgivings prove correct.
Antony Jack lives close to the Quarter’s St James Square, and has been a long-suffering observer of its progress over the years.
In recent weeks, since colder weather has set in, Jack has noticed the appearance of these reddish-brown spots on the steps of the Grand Stair.
The sight of workers swinging from the tower of Broughton St Mary’s is enough to make anyone queasy.
Imagine how much worse you’d feel if you were responsible for the cost of repairs and someone told you it would be £80,000 more than you’d originally budgeted for.
That’s the alarming position now facing those responsible for the familiar and much-loved 200-year-old structure at the centre of Spurtleshire.
On the Urban Realm website last week, project architect Allan Murray described the new St James Quarter’s curved galleria as ‘no different to the baroque geometry of the New Town’.
Sculptors and architects are prone to such flights. The suggestion was summarily dismissed in the comments thread afterwards.
Suggestions are sought for historic buildings and neighbourhoods needing regeneration in the World Heritage Site and adjacent Conservation Areas (in blue below).
Selected properties will benefit under Edinburgh World Heritage’s three-year Conservation Funding Programme (2022–25), which is backed by Historic Environment Scotland.