Waterloo Place

The view above looks to the east from the East End of Princes Street towards Calton Hill with:

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-  The National Monument under construction.  (This monument was started to commemorate the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822, but was never completed due to lack of funds)

-  The Nelson Monument (in the shape of an upturned telescope)

The building on the far left is Register House ©. 

On the right is Shakespeare Theatre  ©

.  The road leading ahead towards Calton Hill is Waterloo Place - the start of the A1 road from Edinburgh to London.

Waterloo place appears in this engraving to have been built on level ground, but in fact, it crosses a valley at Regent Bridge,  beside the pillars on the right of this picture.

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The commentary accompanying the engraving in Modern Athens described Waterloo Place:

Waterloo Place

The houses of Waterloo Place are built upon several small arches, and one of larger dimensions, which bear the name 'Regent Bridge'.  This crosses the Low Calton, and connects the Hill with the ridge upon which the New Town is chiefly built.

The Act of Parliament authorizing the erection of the bridge, and the formation of the road from Princes Street to the Calton, which may be deemed one of the most important of the recent improvements in Edinburgh, was passed in 1814.

Waterloo Hotel

On the North side of the street is  the Waterloo Hotel, the largest and most splendid establishment of the kind in Edinburgh: amongst other apartments, is a coffee-room 80 feet by 40; and a dining-room of equal dimensions.

Theatre Royal

The Theatre Royal, partially represented in the accompanying Engraving is marked by its portico, and by statues of Shakespeare, and the Muses of Tragedy and Comedy, placed as acroters to the roof-pediment, and its lateral copings.

Situated in such a respectable street, and in connexion, as it is, with several handsome public buildings, this theatre makes a very poor and mean  appearance externally, although the interior is fitted up with some degree of attention to the richness of effect.

[Modern Athens]