26S 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Aug ust, 



KEW BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN EDINBURGH. 



[Of information so seldom and so scantily afforded as is that which reaches 

 us from our Northern capital, in regard to architecture, every mite is accept- 

 able, and we therefore gladly communicate to our readers, the following no- 

 tice from the Edinburgh Eveniny Post. It would have been more welcome 

 had not every one of the buildings mentioned, been anonymous, owing, we 

 suppose, to the excessive modesty of the architects employed upon them. At 

 any rate, they do not seem to be very proud of the share they have had in 

 transforming " Auld Reekie" into a " city of palaces," as we find it here 

 called.] 



" Since the building of the New Town of Edinburgh, there has never been 

 a time so rife in new buildings as within the last few years. The city, highly 

 picturesque and beautiful before, has received several fine improvements in 

 its appearance. Sir Walter Scott's monument, newly finished, is a grand ob- 

 ject, and its great elevation overcomes tlie disadvantage arising from the 

 somewhat low site on which it is erected. The spire of tlie Assembly Hall, 

 a charming piece of architecture, is now one of the principal landmarks of 

 the city. The only pity is that the building is in a neighbourhood which 

 does not at all harmonise with it in anything, if we except some new edifices 

 in the Elizabethan style, on which the old gloomy houses of other centuries 

 seem to frown displeasure. It is nearly opposite, and down a close too — and 

 that close the abode of poverty — where JIary of Lorraine, the mother of our 

 beautiful but unhappy JIary had her palace and oratory. On the Calton Hill 

 there is being erected a Debtors* Prison; the building is to the east nf the 

 gaol and bridewell, and will be included within the sweep of the same wall. 

 Talking of this wall, we ougiit to observe that it is built exactly in the style 

 of the battlements of an ancient fortress, and with its abutting watch-towers 

 harmonises well with the rocky elevation from which, on the south side, it 

 rises. On witnessing the good taste indicated here one cannot help con. 

 trasting it with the gross blockheadism which was unaccountably allowed to 

 perpetrate the new barracks erected in Edinburgh Castle. They remind us 

 of a manufactory or union workhouse, and one could almost wish they would 

 tumble down when the inmates were engaged elsewhere. Additions are 

 being made at the end to the north of the Advocates' Library. It strikes us 

 that this building has been too much doctored — that it is spoiled and dete- 

 riorated by the patchwork addenda which are inflicted upon it. A new edi- 

 fice would have been the preferable, perhaps the cheapest, expedient of the 

 learned faculty. The new P/iysicians' Hall, a fine building on the north of 

 the New Town, is nearly finished. The front will be highly ornamented, and 

 will form a choice acquisition to Queen-street, rather wanting in striking 

 buildings. The Commercial Bank, erecting on the site of the former Physi- 

 cians' Hall, in George-street, is advancing. It will add another attraction to 

 a street already one of the finest in Europe. It appears to be designed in 

 the Italian palace style. Near it some striking improvements have been 

 made in the buildings intended for public companies and banks. Nothing 

 can be finer than the light, graceful, and ornamental fronts which we meet 

 in this locality. Donaldson's Hospital, to the west of the city, is progressing 

 rapidly. It is a truly grand and noble structure, and nothing could have 

 been more judiciously chosen than the fine elevation which forms its site. 

 AVe understand that no less a sum than 100,000/. is to be expended in getting 

 up the budding, and adapting its internal economy to the purpose for which 

 it is intended. A new Heriot's Sclioul, situated at the west end of Rose- 

 street, is nearly finished. Tlie Political Martyrs' monument in the Calton 

 burying ground is so far advanced that it can be seen from the North Bridge. 

 Additional erections — stations of railways, and other buildings are soon to 

 be set a-going. And we believe, that in addition to the commodious and ele- 

 gant villas, and other buildings existing at Newington, a large number of 

 houses are to be erected by one of our banks, which has recently obtained 

 the greater part of the ground. A better site for building cannot be imagined, 

 with its delightful southern exposure and salubrious air. It is a peculiar 

 feature of the present era of improvement, that houses in streets occupied by 

 the highest order of gentry who keep mansions in Edinburgh have been con- 

 verted into shops and business establishments. This is particularly observa- 

 ble in George street. The stream of rank has a tendency to flow northward 

 in the direction of the back part of the New Town. The shops iu several 

 parts of Edinburgh have, in many cases, been improved to a high degree of 

 elegance, and, in some cases, decorated with very fine ornaments. One great 

 evil has been removed from the city, in the covering up of that huge, un- 

 sightly stream of dirty water which passed to the sea through the Queen's 

 Park. A sad infliction it was. The laying out of the splendid carriage road, 

 >ii;d the excellent arrangement of the grounds, wdl form permanent attrac- 

 tions to this delightful promenade. A wall around a part of the Royal do- 

 mains is still wanting, and should be set about :— miseraMe hedges of whiu- 

 stone are out of keeping in such a place. It is the felicity of Edinburgh, 

 that close at hand to its busy streets and closely wedged buildings are soli- 

 tudes such as Zimmerman might have envied. From the park under notice 

 a very short walk conducts to scenes as still and picturesque as are to be 

 found in the secluded spots of the Grampians, while, at some point suddenly 

 attained, there bursts forth the full majestic spectacle of a great and sublime 

 city, and the hum of voices falls upon tbe ear like soft and distant music. To 

 the stranger and tourist this city of palaces and solitudes forms an abiding 

 ti.eme of interest. We are glad to find that much has recently been done in 



the way of improving the drainage of the town. We have not a great'deal 

 to com|ilain on this point at present, but we think it would be well if some 

 of the common sewers had their outlets -at a distance. It is quite unseemly 

 to find, just at Canonmills, a huge common sewer disemboguing itself into 

 the Leith River, and polluting the stream, so that the whole has the appear- 

 ance of water used in cleaning out a dirty stable. Another foul stream is 

 still permitted to irrigate some meadows towards the back of Pierstiill Bar- 

 racks. We cannot help feeling surprised that government, for the sake of 

 the health of the soldiers, does not interfere to have this dangerous nuisance 

 removed." 



WORKS ON THE CALEDONIAN CANAL. 

 (From the Inverness Courier.J 



The improvements on the Caledonian Canal, constituting a truly national 

 undertaking, on a scale of great magnitude and importance, are proceeding 

 in a highly satissactory manner, and form an interesting and novel subject of 

 contemplation in our northern region. Along the whole line operations are 

 in full activity. The new lock, intended to provide against the rise of ex- 

 treme floods in Loch Lochy, is now far advanced, and forms a huge mass of 

 masonry, moulded into shape from the chaos of materials that overspread 

 the adjoining banks. The depth of these solid and massive walls, from the 

 foundation to tlie coping is about forty feet — the length upwards of four 

 hundred and fifty. The lock gates have yet to be added, and these are to be 

 constrnctedj of oak framing, for which nearly all England and Wales have 

 been searched, in order to procure timber of the paopev shape and dimen- 

 sions. Indeed, the gate ])0sts are so large, that suitable beams of oak could 

 not be obtained, and blocks of mahogany and teak are to be substituted. 



The extensive repairs of the present locks in the Loehabar, or western 

 district of the line, were for the most part completed last year; and those 

 for the central district are now in progress. The first stone of the lower 

 lock at Fort-Augustus was laid on the 21st of June, by Captain Spalding, 

 barrack-master of the fort. Large dams or mounds had to be thrown across 

 the canal channels to exclude the water, and in various instances steam 

 engines, and other machinery, have been erected for pumping. It was 

 necessary to have excess to the foundations of the lower lock, which forms 

 the point of junction with Loch Ness, and where the ground is of a very 

 open and porous nature ; and hence a vast power was requisite to drain the 

 site of the works. No less than three steam-engines, of 30, 28, and 6 

 horse-power, are employed. A quantity of water, amounting to nearly 

 12,000 gallons in a minute, iz raised in a continuous volume, from a depth 

 of about twenty feet, and discharged into Loch Ness. It may give some 

 idea of this quantity to mention that it would afford a supply of some ten 

 or twelve gallons per day of the purest filtered water to every inhabitant of 

 London, man, woman and child 1 For moving the huge blocks of stone used 

 in the quoins, and other principal portions of the new buildings, setting 

 frames, with a curious apparatus of cranes (fixed and moveable), windlasses, 

 and other machinery, have been provided; and it is interesting to witness 

 the regularity and ease with which the various operations are directed to- 

 wards their common object. A similar variety of processes, although on a 

 smaller scale, may be seen at Muirtown, near this town, where additional 

 wharfs are in progress. 



The dredging operations on the summit level of the Canal are among the 

 most arduous of the works. A new steam dredger had to be procured, after 

 the most improved model, the hull being entirely of iron, and the machinery 

 of great power. Both this and the steam-dredger formerly belonging to 

 the Canal are engaged in deepening the channel of Loch Oich, and through 

 the district of Laggan, which separates Loch Oich from Loch Lochy. The 

 ground there is for the most exceedingly difficult of excavation, consisting of 

 hard mountain clay, in which are embedded huge boulders of wbinstone. 

 Through such intractable substances the progress is necessarily slow, but 

 occasionally nearly one thousand tons are removed in the course of a day. 

 Throughout a part of Loch Oich the bottom was much incumbered with 

 large trunks of trees, some of them containing from four to five loads of 

 timber: these relics of our primeval forests had slumbered for centuries in 

 the bosom of the lake, and many bore traces of fire and the axe. 



At certain portions of the line where tbe leakage in dry seasons was wont 

 to diminish the available depth of water, it has been necessary to add a coat- 

 ing or liiuug of puddle or clay; and this is required to a considerable extent 

 in the reaches above Fort-Augustes and Muirtown. In tbe former place the 

 process is already in active operation, and in the latter preparations are 

 making for a speedy commencement. The space requisite for tbe insertion 

 of the lining is first excavated, and the materials are moved from the bottom 

 and sides of the Canal, chiefly by means of numerous horse-runs — the work- 

 men careering up and down planks of timber, at steep inclines, each aided 

 by a horse at the top, and the whole forming a ready and somewhat pictu- 

 resque moile of transit and conveyance. 



The number of men employed varies from fifteen to eighteen hundred. 

 The greater portion of the labourers are natives of the Highlands : the 

 masons are chiefly from Morayshire ; and the carpenters and others from 

 Inverness and its neighbourhood. We may add that the works were lately 



