Old Photograph East End Princes Street Edinburgh Scotland

Old photograph of cars, trams, people and buildings on the East End of Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. Princes Street was originally to have been called St Giles Street after the patron saint of Edinburgh. However, King George III rejected the name, St Giles being also the patron saint of lepers and the name of a notorious rookery of slums in London, England. The street is named after King George's two eldest sons, the Prince George, Duke of Rothesay, later King George IV, and the Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. It was laid out according to formal plans for Edinburgh's New Town, now known as the First New Town. These were devised by the architect James Craig and building began around 1770. Princes Street represented a critical part of the plan, being the outer edge, facing Edinburgh Castle and the original city. Originally all buildings had the same format: set back from the street with stairs down to a basement and stairs up to the ground floor with two storeys and an attic above. Of this original format only one such property remains in its original form. Through the 19th century most buildings were redeveloped at a larger scale and the street evolved from residential to mainly retail uses.



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