Royal Mile Edinburgh, Photos, Buildings, History, Architects, Pictures

Royal Mile, Edinburgh : Architecture Information + Images

Edinburgh's most famous street, Scotland, UK

Royal Mile Edinburgh Rethinking the Royal Mile RIAS Conference, The Hub, Castlehill (The Royal Mile), Edinburgh 5 Dec 2002 The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland is holding an important Conference: Rethinking the Royal Mile will explore the history of what some call the “world’s finest street”, and examine what the future holds for the ancient thoroughfare. Speakers include Benedetta Tagliabue from the Scottish parliament architects EMBT / RMJM, RIAS Award for Architecture winner Malcolm Fraser, and Ian Spence from Edinburgh City Council’s planning department. Four young architects - Andrea Faed, John Thomson, Scott Turpie and Stacey Phillips - will also be presenting their visions for sites along the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile conference will be chaired by Richard Emerson, Chief Inspector of Historic Buildings, Historic Scotland. With the Scottish Parliament building due to open its doors next spring, the Royal Mile’s importance to the political and cultural life of Scotland’s capital city cannot be ignored. Rethinking the Royal Mile is a unique opportunity to have your say on the future of this incredible street. Royal Mile Edinburgh: Conference Tickets £45 RIAS - Royal Mile information 3 Dec 2002 Royal Mile, Edinburgh - 80’s & 90’s At the recent RIAS conference Rethinking the Royal Mile I was given the unenviable task of talking on a period of time that many in the audience were extremely familiar with. Some may have designed buildings while others where hugely involved with initiatives. I was keen to point out that to me this period of time was history. In 1980 I was aged seven with no thought given to the problems of the Royal Mile. As I collated the information for this talk I increasingly became distracted by the title ‘Rethinking the Royal Mile’. It seemed to me that over the twenty years, that I was asked to examine, the street had been one of the successes of the city. The population decline in the Old Town had been reversed; holes in the ground had been filled. A Renewal Trust had been successful in attracting funding for public realm works and had brought a renewed confidence to the area. Indeed during the last decade we have seen projects on the Royal Mile by architects such as Richard Murphy, Malcolm Fraser, Allan Murray and Ben Tindall which have transformed the area. If the rest of the city could have received developments of this quality then we would all be a great deal happier. I would humbly suggest that the streets in which we must work together to solve the problems include Princes Street, Great Junction Street and Leith Walk. One of the key Royal Mile buildings in my talk was the Scandic Crown [renamed 2004 as Radisson Hotel Edinburgh] completed in 1990. A sound bite from the Cockburn Association in the 1970’s stated that ‘the large hole between Blackfriars and Niddry Street once so satisfactorily occupied by early eighteenth century tenements, is one of the most important underdeveloped urban sites in Europe’. After a few failed attempts Barratt’s employed Ian Begg to design the scheme for this Royal Mile site. In his writings he describes it as traditional with tall tenements and back courts with houses on the upper floors and workshops to the rear. With Strichen’s, Cant’s and Dickson’s Close being substantially reinstated. Indeed at this stage the Cockburn was full of praise stating that they ‘commend the way in which the proposed development would use the site and would respect the historic plan form of the Old Town’. Praise from the Cockburn Association is not easily achieved. The problems seem to have arisen when this Royal Mile site was sold to the Danish firm, Dancon. Their proposals were for a 250-bed hotel with the residential component being restricted to 25% of the site. Previously the scheme had been designed as separate blocks. Now levels had to be changed and the hotel crashed through these dividing walls. The workshops from the previous scheme were lost as were the majority of the ground floor units. The biggest loss, however, is the closes that would have run through the building. We are left with a huge impenetrable block within the Old Town. The names of the closes still remain but these simply serve as fire escapes to the hotel’s facilities. Old Town Housing: Royal Mile frontage, image © Adrian Welch Another important project to examine on the Royal Mile was Richard Murphy’s Old Town Housing Association project on the Canongate. Adrian describes this building on this site as ‘The frontage has a quirky Old Town feel; it doesn’t shout but it also isn’t overly polite’. The building is one of the best examples of new build on the Royal Mile over the twenty years I was examining. Therefore I spent a long time questioning whether this building was actually polite to its Canongate location. I was sure Richard did not mean it to be polite, but in the end could not make up my mind so left it to the audience to answer. I then jumped from a quality building to a poor building. The important thing to notice is that the client is the same in both instances. Wilson Court Housing off the Royal Mile was built for the Old Town Housing Association in 1997. Why did Campbell & Arnott get it so right on the Holyrood North site and so wrong on the Canongate? To me it looks like it has been squashed at the front with a very horizontal emphasis. If you walk through the site you will notice how the materials have already started to look cheap. Maybe the Old Town Housing Association turned a corner with Richard and realised the importance of good design. They appeared to have continued along the right path with their adjacent scheme by E&F McLachlan completed in 2000. I was in danger then of slipping off the Royal Mile into Holyrood North but there has been an immense amount of activity by architects mainly for the Housing Associations and Moray House. Views of the buildings can also be seen from the Canongate and the Masterplan has been an extremely successful scheme. The standard of architecture in some of the buildings can be hidden by the high quality of the urban design. Hope’s Masterplan controls building plots, heights and provides penetration into the site. Edinburgh must learn the lessons form this masterplan and use this approach more often. The Hub, Royal Mile: image from Ben Tindall Architects The Hub for me is a building that I must enthuse about. This building oozes charisma and has provided a fantastic home to the Edinburgh Festival. Empty for over a decade, the National Lottery has brought a massive boost to Edinburgh no more so than at the Hub. For me the Lottery is most successful when it matches up a long term user to an empty historic building. Some may think that Ben went a bit over the top with the colour scheme. For me it makes me smile and that is all I require. Again I would refer to Adrian’s web site as he appears to pay Ben a massive compliment when he states that ‘the project does take risks and challenges the status quo with its vivid contrasts of colour and approach to conservation’ The Hub provides us with hope that we can revitalise all our historic buildings on the Royal Mile. The key appears to be matching a long-term occupier with a building. Article continues at Royal Mile Buildings MARTIN HULSE Director of the Cockburn Association Royal Mile: 80’s & 90’s Comment Dec 2002 Royal Mile Buildings The Royal Mile is a historic street in Edinburgh Old Town, stretching from the Castle to the Palace. Contents of this page: Royal Mile Architecture + Conference + History Royal Mile Buildings: Edinburgh Old Town Architecture Tour selection at base of this page Royal Mile, Edinburgh: historic plan, usage approved by Charles McKean John Knox House : middle of Royal Mile image © Adrian Welch Hotel Missoni St Giles Cathedral: middle of Royal Mile Edinburgh Castle: top of Royal Mile Tron Kirk: middle of Royal Mile Gladstone's Land - Lawnmarket: top of Royal Mile Radisson Hotel Edinburgh building: photo © adrian welch Scottish Architecture Museum of Scotland Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Restaurants Royal Mile building - Palace of Holyroodhouse

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