Buildings - Edinburgh Ladies College, Queen Street, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Ladies' College

4 Postcards

Postcard

Postcard 1 is by an unidentified publisher. It appears to have been reproduced on behalf of the Edinburgh stationers, George Waterston & Sons.

Hippolyte J Blanc who designed this building for the Edinburgh Ladies' College was a prominent member of Edinburgh Photographic Society. He gave several lectures to the society on photography, art and architecture between 1886 and 1900.

He was President from 1888 until 1892, and Honorary President from 1896 until his death in 1917. He was an architect, a pupil of the architect and Photographic Society of Scotland member, David Rhind.

Hippolyte J Blanc is the figure on the right, standing beside the bell in this photo, taken at St Cuthbert's Church near the West End of Princes Street in 1902.

Raising of St Cuthbert's Parish Church Bell - 1902

Postcard

Postcard 2 is one of many street scenes of Edinburgh produced by the Edinburgh postcard publishers, WR&S in the early 1900s.

'This card shows the exterior of the Edinburgh Ladies College, as it was built in 1913 with its neo-Palladian frontage. However, less than half of the original design by Hippolyte J Blanc was actually built.

Postcards

3 & 4.

Postcards 3 and 4 are both by the publisher, PA Buchanan & Co, Croydon, Surrey. The company appears to have specialised in taking interior views of schools, possibly throughout Britain.

I already have several interior views by PA Buchanan & Co of:

- Royal High School, Edinburgh

- St Hilda's School, Edinburgh

including these two:

Royal High School, Edinburgh - Art Room

St Hilda's School, Dining Room, Junior House

Edinburgh Ladies' College Queen Street
The details below are taken from volumes of Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory. (I've checked the directories back to 1900, thirteen years before the building designed by Hippolyte J Blanc was built. They show that Edinburgh Ladies' College occupied this site throughout from 1900 (and no doubt earlier) up to 1945 when it became Mary Erskine School for Girls. *Mary Erskine left the site around 1968, and new offices were constructed for Wood Mackenzie, Fund Managers, and others.*
Year	Address	Occupants
1900-13	69 Queen Street	*Royal Scottish Nursing Institution*
1900-13	70, 72-73 Queen Street	*Edinburgh Ladies' College*
1914-15	69 Queen Street	[not listed]
1914-15	70, 72-73 Queen Street	*Edinburgh Ladies' College*
1916-44	68-70, 72-73 Queen Street	*Edinburgh Ladies' College*
1945-66	68-70, 72-73 Queen Street	Mary Erskine School for Girls.
1967	68-73 Queen Street	[not listed]
1968	68-73 Queen Street	*Wood Mackenzie*
1970-75	68-73 Queen Street	**Wood Mackenzie + BUPA + others**

Mary Erskine School

Recollections

Pamela Thompson (née Jones)

Buderim, Queensland, Australia

Thank you to Pamela Thompson for posting a message in the EdinPhoto Guestbook. After adding a brief comment about living in one of the Prefab houses at Milton Drive, Edinburgh, Pamela referred to her school:

Pamela wrote:

Mary Erskine School

"I also enjoyed the early photos of the Edinburgh Ladies College that were recently added to the EdinPhoto web site.

School at Queen Street

Piano and Dancing

I went there in the 1950s when it was the Mary Erskine School for Girls."

Pamela Thompson (née Jones), Buderim, Queensland, Australia:
Message posted in EdinPhoto Guestbook: March 10, 2013

Mary Erskine School

Recollections

Danny Callaghan

Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Thank you Danny Callaghan who wrote:

Mary Erskine School

School at Queen Street

"When the original buildings used by Mary Erskine School were replaced by the modern office block it was named Erskine House, so keeping the connection with Mary Erskine school.

At that time I was involved in the installation of office furniture for Wood MacKenzie and also the Bank of Scotland branch on the ground floor.

In later years, I also supplied the furniture for Registers of Scotland when they opened up the public search office."

Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland: March 11, 2013