Tenements in Beaverbank Place

View from Logie Green Road

This view looks across from Logie Green Road, over the land where Vogue Furniture Warehouse once stood, towards the backs of the tenements at the southern end of Beaverbank Place.

This land has now been cleared to make way for new retail and business developments.

Tenements

The tenements in this photo are stone-fr9nted, like almost all of Edinburgh's tenements that were built in the late C18 and early C20, as can be seen in this view of them, taken from Broughton Road:

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However, the backs of the tenements are built from brick, as can be seen in the photo at the top of this page.  See Question below.

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Another view from Logie Green Road

Here is another view from Logie Green Road, taken from the same position as the photo at the top of this page, but looking a little further left, towards Laing's Foundry in Beaverbank Place:

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Recollections

'The Ditch' or 'The Dump.

After seeing this photo at the top of this page,  Donnie Graham emailed me, telling me that the wasteland used to be known as 'The Ditch' or 'The Dump.

More of Danny's comments can be found here:  Recollections 15

Acknowledgement:  Donnie Graham, Zwickau, Germany:  June 14, 2010

Stone and Brick Tenements

Question

John Dickson of the Broughton History Society has asked:

1.  Why was brick used for the back of these premises?

2.  Are there any other examples of this practice in Edinburgh?

John Dickson, Broughton, Edinburgh:  June 15, 2010

Reply

John tells me that Alex Dow has commented

1. This was almost certainly due to cost.  At any time, to extract worthwhile stone, split/cut it to a regular shape, finish it and transport it to the building site, has been an extremely costly business. 

There are many sources of clay for brick making.  With the advent of the railways, coal became readily available as well. So bricks were a relatively cheap commodity.

2. One other location of such mixed construction that I am directly aware of, is at Hawthornvale, in Leith

Brick was generally used in the hidden areas and the areas not seen by the public, so I would suggest that a reasonable survey of tenements would reveal a much greater use of brick (and rubble) than we are generally conscious of.

Alex Dow,  Fife, Scotland.  Message passed on by John Dickie, June 15, 2010

Broughton Recollections

Edinburgh Photos