Revealed, the Edinburgh that never was
FROM a turreted tower at the castle in memory of Prince Albert to a cylindrical Sean Connery ‘filmhouse’, they never quite made it off the drawing board.
Now, however, a new exhibition is showcasing some of the grand designs proposed but then rejected for the Scottish capital.
Unbuilt Edinburgh, which features 19 design concepts and ideas spanning 230 years, explores the often outlandish structures that could have changed the face of the city.
Among the most dramatic is architect David Bryce’s 1862 proposal for a ‘memorial keep’ at Edinburgh Castle to commemorate Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert. The tower would have loomed over the capital, altering Scotland’s most iconic city skyline.
Another doomed proposal, from 1919, was the ‘Via Sacra’ or ‘Sacred Way’ for the Scottish National War Memorial. Frank Charles Mears’s design would have seen the Johnston Terrace route, to the south side of the castle, lined with monuments and memorials.
More recently, a striking Sean Connery Filmhouse – proposed in 2004 – would have dominated Festival Square, off Lothian Road.
Other planned works on display include a 1937 proposal for the Murrayfield Ice Rink and Sports Stadium, and a Princes Street Galleries competition entry of 2002 that would have radically redesigned the east end of Princes Street.
Neil Gregory, co-curator of the exhibition, said: ‘Unbuilt Edinburgh offers visitors a tantalising view of what the capital could have looked like had different decisions been taken.
‘These drawings help us to make sense of the cityscape that we see today. They highlight key episodes in the history of some of the city’s major landmarks and the careers of some of Scotland’s leading architects.’
The free exhibition runs until May 20 at the Architecture and Design Scotland building in the Canongate.