Alva Street, Edinburgh
By James Gillespie Graham, 1823; executed by R. Hutchinson (1826 - 1830). 3-storey, 7-bay classical terrace with unified townhouse façade; basement area to street including some vaulted cellars and retaining walls. Sandstone ashlar, droved at basement, channelled at ground floor. Entrance platts oversailing basement. Base course at ground floor; banded cill courses at 1st and 2nd floors. Corniced eaves course with blocking course above. Doors in round arched surrounds, fanlight with radial glazing. Cast-iron anthemion balconies at 1st floor.
A well composed classical terrace with Greek motifs such as anthemion balconies. The composition is well detailed and has been retained largely unaltered.
Alva Street lay on land belonging to Lord Alva, who acted as a trustee for James Erskine. The plan for this part of his estate was drawn up by Gillespie Graham, but the land was sold in 1825 to a lawyer, James Stuart. Nothing was done to develop the site, and the land was sold again to a builder (Robert Hutchison) in 1826. It was under his ownership that the street was built to the original Gillespie Graham plan by 1830.
James Gillespie Graham was best known for designing predominantly Gothic churches and castellated country houses. He produced relatively little classical work, but in addition to Gray's House in Elgin his most notable work was the Moray Estate. The monumental style of the architecture, in which he was influenced by Adam's Charlotte Square can also be seen in Alva Street which takes the form of end pavilions flanking a central run of terraced townhouses.
You can see here clearly the shortcomings of Canon’s new RF lens design philosophy where they believe in-body lens corrections will be the saviour of poor and cheap design. High vignetting and massive distortion being commonplace across the range results in stretched corners with poor performance, not impressive in this age of modern lens design.
Alva Street, Edinburgh
By James Gillespie Graham, 1823; executed by R. Hutchinson (1826 - 1830). 3-storey, 7-bay classical terrace with unified townhouse façade; basement area to street including some vaulted cellars and retaining walls. Sandstone ashlar, droved at basement, channelled at ground floor. Entrance platts oversailing basement. Base course at ground floor; banded cill courses at 1st and 2nd floors. Corniced eaves course with blocking course above. Doors in round arched surrounds, fanlight with radial glazing. Cast-iron anthemion balconies at 1st floor.
A well composed classical terrace with Greek motifs such as anthemion balconies. The composition is well detailed and has been retained largely unaltered.
Alva Street lay on land belonging to Lord Alva, who acted as a trustee for James Erskine. The plan for this part of his estate was drawn up by Gillespie Graham, but the land was sold in 1825 to a lawyer, James Stuart. Nothing was done to develop the site, and the land was sold again to a builder (Robert Hutchison) in 1826. It was under his ownership that the street was built to the original Gillespie Graham plan by 1830.
James Gillespie Graham was best known for designing predominantly Gothic churches and castellated country houses. He produced relatively little classical work, but in addition to Gray's House in Elgin his most notable work was the Moray Estate. The monumental style of the architecture, in which he was influenced by Adam's Charlotte Square can also be seen in Alva Street which takes the form of end pavilions flanking a central run of terraced townhouses.
You can see here clearly the shortcomings of Canon’s new RF lens design philosophy where they believe in-body lens corrections will be the saviour of poor and cheap design. High vignetting and massive distortion being commonplace across the range results in stretched corners with poor performance, not impressive in this age of modern lens design.