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At' one time about the end of
last century Edinburgh was threatened with a shameful attack on its amenity,
more especially at night, but also in the daytime. There were erected on the
face of the old town looking towards Princes Street enormous letters
constituting advertisements—Bovril opposite the top of the Mound, Vinolia
Soap on one side of North Bridge, and Bermalme Bread on the other side, and
which if allowed to remain would have been followed by others—Monkey Brand,
Oxo, Lemco, &c. These great letters w ere objectionable in the daytime, but
unendurable at night, when they were lined out in electric light, and made
to wink and flash in varying colours over the face of the old town, so
picturesque with its ordinary window lights after dark. I wrote to Lord
Playfair, who was the Chairman of the Bovril Company, and he, as one would
have expected, at once took steps to put a stop to the outrage. 1 he others
were not so easily dealt with, and it was only by statutory authorisation
that the Magistrates were able to put an end to such a disfigurement of the
city.
There is now only one
illuminated advertisement board looking towards Princes Street, and this, I
regret to say, was in an evil hour set up by those who are the proper
guardians of the city's beauty, The Town Council, in the erection of it,
and: in the use of it violated two rules which they lay down for the
observance of the rest of the community. While they preclude the North
British Railway Company from erecting anything in their station at a level
higher than that of Princes Street, they themselves have placed above the
Waverley Market an erection like those we see in Chinese pictures of heathen
shrines—a thing devoid of all semblance of taste, which as the citizen comes
along Princes Street stands up against the view of Arthur Seat in the one
direction, and the view of the Castle slope m the other. As regards its use,
it's an advertising use only, and it is lighted up as a transparency at
night, thus doing the very thing which the Corporation has taken power to
prevent all other citizens from doing. It constitutes a decided blot on a
fair scene. The gasworks' chimneys no longer stand out against the Salisbury
Crags, but this advertising device does, most offensively. I have never been
able to discover by what authority it was erected. I ask in all earnestness
that it be removed. A temporary advertisement when the Market is let for a
show is endurable, but the presence of a permanent advertising station
obtruded on Princes Street is— not to use strong language—a thing to be
deprecated in the name of good taste.
As I am speaking of
advertisements, may I enter my humble protest against the Corporation
allowing the West Princes Street Gardens to be used as an advertising
station? Every season for some years past, a large placard put up opposite
the end of Castle Street for months at a time, because certain exhibitors in
Edinburgh wish to draw gate-money at the Royal Institution. Possibly it is
thought to be a sufficient excuse for placing a great square board in front
of the Castle Rock chat it advertises an "Art' exhibition". Does not this
make it worse. What lover of art, if not interested in commercial profit,
would tolerate the idea for a moment of using Princes Street Gardens as an
advertising station? Yet that is what is done year by year in the name of
art (!!!), placing an ugly obstruction to the view of a most picturesque
natural scene—a square of black sticking-plaster disfigurng a lovely face
for that is ;to effect. Will our civic rulers consider whether this ought to
be done? Would a conscientious answer "Yes," be possible?
Edinburgh was until recent
years without any building in which great public gatherings, or great
musical entertainments, could be held. The Music Hall, and later the Free
Church Hall, and the U .P. Synod Hall, were the only places in which large
meetings could be held, and these gave only moderate accommodation, and
unsuitable for some purposes. When great public dinners took place, the
spacious Corn Exchange, or the Queer's Brigade Drill Hall in Forrest Road,
were the only buildings available, neither of them being very suitable. On
the occurrence of the University Tercentenary, it was necessary to hire the
Queen's Brigade Drill Hall and hide its somewhat railway station-like roof
with thousands of yards of coloured calico. The Disraeli and Salisbury
banquets were held n the Corn Exchange. Of late years the munificence of two
citizens has provided two really splendid halls for great gatherings. The
M'Ewan Hall at the University is one of the finest in the world, a piece of
architecture magnificent in conception, enabling the University to conduct
its great ceremonials in surroundings not to be surpassed for
appropriateness and grandeur. The Usher Hall—which has at last materialised
after many weary years of waiting—supplies Edinburgh with a concert-room in
every way worthy of the city, which in all its details is eminently fitted
for great gatherings, and contains every modern appliance for comfort and
for convenience of access and departure, things often too little considered
in such buildings. But the city is still without a dining hall suitable for
a large assemblage.
Edinburgh may congratulate
itself on the great progress made during the last fifty years resulting in a
very marked diminution of the death and sick races, "here are many
difficulties m the way in the old town, from the nature and crowding of the
buildings, and improvement can only be accomplished gradually. he community
owes a great deal to the untying labours of the late Sir Henry Duncan
Li'ttlejohn, who was for so many years the City Officer of Health. His work
has been masterly, and much of the fruit of it remains to be gathered, The
City Improvement Scheme, which was sanctioned by Parliament in the middle of
last century, led to the opening up of some of the more crowded localities
of the old town, and this did much to assist in lowering the death and sick
rates. Recently an official report gave as the death-rate of Edinburgh, the
lowest figure of all the great cities of the kingdom. This is eminently
satisfactory. But, alas! the pulling down of many an old building is to be
regretted. Many an interesting and picturesque relic of the past fell under
the house-breaker's pick —some that might have been spared, if the spirit of
reverence for the ancient had been as earnest as it is now. One old building
that was ruthlessly destroyed—whether under the Improvement Scheme or by
private owners I know not— will always be remembered with regretful
feelings. It was at the east end of Lawnmarket, facing the General Assembly
Hall. The old building there had a projected front, supported over the
covered footway by great oak square pillars and crossbeam, and under which,
tradition says, the first book-shop of the now great firm of Nelson & Sons,
the publishers, was located. It was a unique "bit" of old Edinburgh, which
should at all costs have been preserved. Now a common vulgar featureless
front has superseded it.
To Lord Rosebery—a nobleman
who has been a real Scotsman, and who though not an Edinburgh man is yet a
lover of her beauty—we owe it that an excellent restoration has been made of
the great Court between Lawnmarket and Bank Street and of Lady Stair's house
there. It is satisfactory also to know that the much despised Cockburn
Association, which saved Mowbray House from the jerry-builder, is paying
close attention to the preservation of old houses, so that i:f they come
into the market, they may be saved to picturesque and historical Edinburgh. |
