Where and when was this photograph of a row of shops, including E Kane, Hairdresser, taken?

Shops on the north side of Morrison Street - Photo taken between 1909 and 1920

Morrison Street

The Past Century

Nothing now remains of the scene in Photo 1 above; not even the cobbled road surface in the foreground of the picture.

Morrison Street is almost half a mile long. It runs from Haymarket (west) to Tollcross (east). The shops in Photo 1 were on the north side of Morrison Street.

New Buildings

Many of the buildings on the south side of Morrison Street, and the buildings at either end of the street on the north side have survived. But all other buildings on the north side of the street have now been demolished.

This leaves a gap extending from about No 172 (near the western end of the street to about No 34 (near the eastern end of the street, which has been filled by just three buildings:

a) ?? Morrison Street: A new building immediately to the west of the bridge over the Western Approach Road. I have still to check the number of this building and which company occupies it.

b) 150 Morrison Street: EICC (Edinburgh International Conference Centre) seen on the left of the photo below. This has been built immediately to the east of the bridge over the Western Approach Road (formerly a railway) approximately where Nos 112-128 once stood.

c) 60 Morrison Street: SWIP (Scottish Widows Investment Partnership). This has been built approximately where Nos 36 to 62 used to be.

Between b) and c) above is a car park, where Nos 64 to 110 used to be.
The shops in Photo 1 (Nos 76 to 82) at the top of this page were In this section of the street. They were demolished some time before the 1948 Ordnance Survey map was published.

Old Map and Google Image

Here is an extract from the 1948 Ordnance Survey map for the area, and recent Google image. These show how the Morrison Street area has changed over the past 60 years

Recollections

Jim Glass

Thank you to Jim Glass who wrote:

Ned Kane

Hairdresser

"What a wonderful photo of my great-uncle's hairdresser's shop.

Edward Kane (known to the family as Ned) was born in Candlemaker Row in 1879 and was a hairdresser living in Semple Court by the 1901 census.

He was the oldest of seven and looked after my grandmother as she was still quite young when Ned's father died in 1894.

Here is a picture of Ned, standing at back left, with his family and others.

Please click on the thumbnail image above to enlarge it.

Jim added:

"Ned's own son (also Edward) is seen standing at front of this photo*. He also became a hairdresser. He had three daughters, before he was killed in Western Europe a few weeks before the end of the World War II, on March 29, 1945, aged 31.

He had attempted to start an abandoned motor bike which had been booby-trapped. He lived at 7 Violet Terrace, off Slateford Road. He was a Warrant Officer Class II, in the 2 Comp. Lt. A.A./ Searchlight Bty., Royal Artillery.

Jim Glass: December 3, 2009