Great Junction Street
Great Junction Street is a street in Leith, on the northern outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs southeast to northwest following approximately the southwestmost line of the old town walls around Leith.
History
The road was planned c.1800 as a route to join the foot of
The street was the site of a
People from Leith often refer to Great Junction Street as Junction Street. North Junction Street lies at its extreme west end. It is connected to the area known as the Shore via Henderson Street.
Buildings
Although typified by tenements the tenements in their own right are not necessarily typical. Great Junction Street has an abnormal number of flat-roofed tenements. These survived the ravages of the Scottish weather due to their novel construction; three inches of horse hair and tar (strong, flexible and impervious). These roofs normally survive well until tackled by Housing Repair Grant projects, which invariably replace them with felt, not appreciating the durability and value of the original roof.[3]
Other buildings of note are the former Leith Provident
On the south side of the road, Junction Place, shows where a collection of public buildings formerly stood. "Fire Engine House", stepping into the street midway, was a horse-drawn fire service, the gates opening onto the narrowest part of the roadway. At the very end of Junction Place stood Leith Electricity Generating Station, a surprisingly domestic scale building erected in 1895 to provide electric street lights, but having a bronze plaque to explain its creation.
In 2002 the very unusual but very out of character Telectra House was demolished and replaced with housing. This had been built (between Cables Wynd and King Street) in the early 1960s as a department store extension to the existing Leith Provident Co-operative Society building. Despite a late call to list the building as a monument to Modern Architecture this was blocked due to high asbestos content in the building.[6]
A plaque on the corner of King Street marks it as the now demolished birthplace of Sir John Gladstone of Fasque, father of William Gladstone the future Prime Minister of Britain.
King Street leads through to the eastern sections of Leith Hospital: the cholera isolation block and nurses home on the east, the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee block on the west.
The former State Cinema by James Miller & Partners stands at the extreme west end of the street adjacent to the Water of Leith. The building dates from 1938 but spent most of the latter part of the 20th century as a bingo hall. It currently houses the Kingdom Church and the Sketchy Beats concept cafe.[7]
Taylor Gardens
Taylor Gardens is the small pocket park at the west end of Great Junction Street.
It was formed in 1920, following the demolition of South Leith Poorhouse. Unusually for the period, that was not the end of Leith's poorhouse: a new poorhouse was built at Seafield in 1923, converted to a military hospital in 1939, then a normal hospital, the Eastern General, in 1946. It in turn was demolished in 2008.
The Taylor Gardens park was created as a setting as part of a project to expand Leith Hospital, immediately to the north. In an Act of 1919 all local authorities were obliged to erect war memorials. There were strict guidelines on their form. Leith appealed to the authorities to request that a new wing be built on the hospital instead; specifically a children's wing. This was agreed, but clearly cost a lot more in terms of public subscription. The wing, which faces Taylor Gardens, therefore reads "Leith War Memorial" along the top, with various military badges and emblems also carved. Since the hospital's conversion to housing in the early 21st century, a new plinth has been erected in Taylor Gardens in order to lay wreaths on Remembrance Day.
On the north-west side of the gardens (on Mill Lane) stands a two-storey building dating from 1822. This was built as a school for the poorhouse, with boys on one floor and girls on the other. This was the first free education provided to females in this area. It was replaced by a new pair of schools (one for girls one for boys) further along Mill Lane, in 1838. These were built by Sir John Gladstone of Leith, William Gladstone's father. This connection led to the first-mentioned ex-school being named "Gladstones".
The Quilts
Opposite Taylor Gardens is an area of Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA) housing erected in 1981. This replaced an area cleared as slum housing as part of a Comprehensive Redevelopment Area designated by the Council.
The north-east corner has a plaque to the Siege of Leith in 1561.
The enamel street number plates were created by students at Edinburgh College of Art as part of a practical design exercise.
The Ebenezer Church formerly in the centre of the street frontage was demolished but rebuilt as a new church on Bangor Road.
References
- ^ "Old and New Town of Edinburgh and Leith with the proposed docks". 1804 - John AINSLIE - Old and New Town of Edinburgh and Leith with the proposed docks. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ James Buist (1842), National record of the visit of queen Victoria to Scotland, 1842
- ^ Stephen C Dickson, Council Grants Team, reports on various Leith projects 1984 onwards
- ^ Stephen Dickson, private photograph collection
- ^ Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Dickson
- ^ Report to Edinburgh Planning Committee 01/03453/FUL, Stephen C Dickson
- ^ Buildings of Scotland, Edinburgh, by Gifford McWilliam and Walker
