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44-541: St Andrew Square is a garden square in Edinburgh , Scotland located at the east end of George Street . The construction of St Andrew Square began in 1772, as the first part of the New Town , designed by James Craig . Within six years of its completion St Andrew Square became one of the most desirable and most fashionable residential areas in the city. As the 19th century came to a close, St Andrew Square evolved into

88-554: A powerful person would induce others to cross from the Old Town to the New Town and St Andrew Square. Hume chose a site on the southwest side of the square at the corner of Princes Street and an unnamed street (later named St David Street). Also on the north side, No. 26 was the home to architect Sir William Chambers . St Andrew Square has been used as a transport hub for a number of years. The original St Andrew Square Bus station

132-809: A public private partnership between the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Fitler Square Improvement Association. In Boston tens of squares exist, some having a mainly residential use. The Kingstowne development in Fairfax County, Virginia , near Washington, DC , contains several townhouse complexes built around garden squares. In Africa, garden squares are rare. Many squares and parks in Africa were constructed during colonial rule, along with European-styled architecture. A well-known square like this in Africa

176-479: A very mixed character. The Abercrombie Plan of 1949 proposed tighter control of design to create a more coherent appearance. This theme was taken up by the Princes Street Panel, whose 1967 report proposed comprehensive redevelopment with Modernist buildings to incorporate a first-floor level walkway, theoretically doubling the shopping frontage. The plan was partially put into operation, resulting in

220-429: Is Greenmarket Square , in the center of Cape Town , which previously hosted more townhouses at its edges but has been mostly paved over. Garden Squares generally do not occur throughout Asia. Parks usually occupy the need for urban green spaces, while historic and modern gardens exist as attractions, not central communal spaces. Princes Street Princes Street ( Scottish Gaelic : Sràid nam Prionnsachan )

264-468: Is an island platform located on the east side of the square. It is the nearest stop for Edinburgh Waverley railway station which lies approximately 250m to the south, and for Edinburgh bus station which is 50m to the north. Trams from here run west through the city to Edinburgh Airport , and north to Leith and Newhaven. Garden square The archetypal garden square is surrounded by tall terraced houses and other types of townhouse . Because it

308-614: Is based on the ornate ceiling of the banking hall inside Dundas House, designed by John Dick Peddie in 1857. A short distance from Dundas House, down George Street, is where St. Andrew's Church was built in 1784. In 1806 the head office of the British Linen Bank moved to St Andrew Square. The building was a branch of the Bank of Scotland until 2016. St. Andrew Square was also home to the National Bank of Scotland , which

352-411: Is designed for the amenity of surrounding residents, it is subtly distinguished from a town square designed to be a public gathering place: due to its inherent private history, it may have a pattern of dedicated footpaths and tends to have considerably more plants than hard surfaces or large monuments. At their conception in the early 17th century, each such garden was a private communal amenity for

396-486: Is famous for them; they are described as one of the glories of the capital. Many were built or rebuilt during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, at the height of Georgian architecture , and are surrounded by townhouses . Large projects, such as the Bedford Estate , included garden squares in their development. The Notting Hill and Bloomsbury neighbourhoods both have many garden squares, with

440-404: Is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh , Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town , stretching around 1.2 km (three quarters of a mile) from Lothian Road in the west, to Leith Street in the east. The street has few buildings on the south side and looks over Princes Street Gardens allowing panoramic views of

484-801: Is the former railway hotel, previously known as the North British Hotel , latterly renamed the Balmoral Hotel , and the North Bridge which sails at high level over the station. The hotel has a counterpart at the extreme west end of Princes Street. The Caledonian Hotel, now the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh - The Caledonian , sits at the north end of Lothian Road. This was built by the Caledonian Railway for their Princes Street Station which closed in

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528-666: The National Gallery of Scotland , are located at the foot of The Mound and are served by Princes Street tram stop . Further along is the Scott Monument , a huge intricate Gothic monument dedicated to Sir Walter Scott , the author of the Waverley Novels , after which is named Waverley station , which lies at the east end of the Gardens, its westward lines dividing them. Next to the station on its north side

572-459: The Old Town , Edinburgh Castle , as well as the valley between. Most of the street is limited to trams , buses and taxis with only the east end open to all traffic. The street lies on the line of a medieval country lane known as the Lang Dykes and under the first plan for the New Town was to have been called St Giles Street after the patron saint of Edinburgh. However, when King George III

616-863: The Place de la République . The enclosed garden terraces ( French: jardins terrasses ) and courtyards ( French: cours ) of some French former palaces have resulted in redevelopments into spaces equivalent to garden squares. The same former single-owner scenario applies to at least one garden square in London ( Coleridge Square ). Grandiose instances of garden-use town squares are a part of many French cities, others opt for solid material town squares. The Square de Meeûs and Square Orban are notable examples in Brussels. Dublin has several Georgian examples, including Merrion Square , Fitzwilliam Square , Mountjoy Square , St Stephens Green and Parnell Square . Perhaps

660-626: The Royal Bank of Scotland was the only business to maintain a frontage at this level for any length of time; that branch of the bank closed early in the 21st century, leaving the upper walkway largely forgotten. Princes Street was the scene of rioting in 2005 related to the 31st G8 summit referred to in the press as "The Battle of Princes Street". Several UK well-known high street brands such as Boots , H&M , and Marks & Spencer , are located on Princes Street. A couple of new hotels are destined to open on Princes Street in 2022, including

704-405: The 1960s along with the lines it served. At the west end of Princes Street, St John's Episcopal Church at the corner of Lothian Road is built at street level above a basement crypt and a small churchyard. In addition, there are several fair trade outlets in this space as part of the church, whilst St Cuthbert's Church stands just to the south of it, in a far larger and older churchyard, west of

748-474: The 19th century most buildings were redeveloped at a larger scale and the street evolved from residential to mainly retail uses. From the 1880s the street, with its commanding views in combination with great ease of access, became a popular street upon which to locate hotels. The railway companies created huge anchor hotels at either end: the Caledonian Hotel to the west, and North British Hotel to

792-597: The 19th century, with notable exceptions below. Rittenhouse Square in the Center City, Philadelphia encases a public garden, one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century. It was first named Southwest Square. Nearby Fitler Square is a similar garden square named for late 19th century Philadelphia mayor Edwin Henry Fitler shortly after his death in 1896. The Square, cared for through

836-554: The Red Carnation Hotel at 100 Princes Street. On 25 January 2021, it was announced that Jenners department store , which has been located on Princes Street since Victorian times, was to close on May 3, 2021, in preparation for a three-year-long redevelopment. Also on 25 January, it was announced that Debenhams 's department store on Princes Street would also close in May 2021. It was also announced on 25 January, that

880-484: The administrator for troubled Arcadia group that own Topman and Topshop (also located on Princes Street) were in talks with online shopping brand ASOS with a view to selling the brands online, leaving the historic Edinburgh street losing recognisable brands, with many now migrating to the newly opened St James Quarter . During the construction of the New Town, the polluted waters of the Nor Loch were drained, and

924-476: 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, Edinburgh Old Town . 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, no.95, remains in its original form. Through

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968-474: The area was converted into private gardens called Princes Street Gardens . This was taken over by the Edinburgh Council in the late-nineteenth century, by which time most of the street was commercial and there was no great need for private residential gardens. The width of Princes Street was greatly increased soon after, onto what was the northern edge of the gardens. Due to the much lower position of

1012-572: The centre of St Andrew Square is the fluted column of the Melville Monument , commemorating Henry Dundas , the first Viscount Melville. The Melville Monument is surrounded by St Andrew Square Gardens, recently redesigned and opened to the public. The Building Plot, Pillar and Statue is owned by The Melville Monument Naval Committee. On the east side of the square stands the impressive mansion of Dundas House , built by Sir William Chambers for Sir Lawrence Dundas between 1772 and 1774. Once

1056-475: The commercial centre of the city. Most of the square used to be made up of major offices of banks and insurance companies, making it one of the major financial centres in Scotland. At one time, St Andrew Square could claim to be the richest area of its size in the whole of Scotland. The gardens are owned by a number of private parties and belong to the collection of New Town Gardens . They were made open to

1100-611: The demolition of seven old buildings, and the erection of seven new, before the approach was dropped in the 1970s. Two of the new buildings, British Home Stores at number 64, and the New Club at numbers 84–87, are now listed buildings . There has been controversy over buildings from the latter half of the 20th century on Princes Street. This has prompted plans to demolish the BHS and the Marks & Spencer buildings, in an effort to improve

1144-484: The east. In between were the Royal British Hotel, Old Waverley Hotel , and Mount Royal Hotel, all of which survive. Princes Street was also home to two leading department stores, Jenners founded in 1838 and rebuilt in 1893–1895, and Forsyth's built in 1906–1907, both technically advanced and architecturally ornate buildings for their time. By the 1930s the architecture of Princes Street had

1188-472: The former mostly still restricted to residents, and the latter open to all. Other UK cities prominent in the Georgian era such as Edinburgh , Bath , Bristol and Leeds have several garden squares. Householders with access to a private garden square are commonly required to pay a maintenance levy. Normally the charge is set annually by a garden committee. Sometimes private garden squares are opened to

1232-611: The gardens this led to the creation of the steep embankment on the north side, still visible today. The gardens are one of the many green spaces in the heart of Edinburgh. The Gardens contain the Ross Bandstand (an open-air theatre), a war memorial to US soldiers of Scottish descent and a floral clock , together with other attractions. Two of the main Scottish art galleries, the Royal Scottish Academy and

1276-571: The gardens. The floral clock dates from 1903 when it was first planted by the Park Superintendent, John McHattie. It displays a different theme every summer. Princes Street remains popular, although it has now fallen from its status as the most expensive place to rent shop space in the UK outside of London. Princes Street may be one of the few streets in the UK to have an order of Parliament placed on it to prevent any further building on

1320-459: The intended site for St Andrew's Church , Dundas House became the head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1825. Architectural features of Dundas House are represented today on the "Ilay" series of banknotes issued by the Royal Bank; the building's Palladian facade features on the obverse of each note, as the background graphic on both sides of the notes is a radial star design which

1364-478: The late 1830s the apostrophe in the name (which had also sometimes been written as Princes' Street) had largely fallen out of use, giving the street its present day name of Princes Street. The apparent plurality in the name has given rise to various erroneous explanations of the name. It was laid out according to formal plans for Edinburgh's New Town , now known as the First New Town. These were devised by

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1408-603: The most famous garden square in the United States is Gramercy Park in southern Midtown Manhattan . Famously, it has remained private and gated throughout its existence; possession of a key to the park is a jealously guarded privilege that only certain local residents enjoy. The tradition of fee simple land ownership in American cities has made collective amenities such as garden squares comparatively rare. Very few sub-dividers and developers included them in plats during

1452-616: The outset, is the Square René Viviani . Gardens substantially cover a few of the famous Places in the capital; instead, the majority are paved and replete with profoundly hard materials such as Place de la Concorde . Inspired by ecological interests and a 21st-century focus on pollution mitigation, an increasing number of the Places in Paris today many have a focal tree or surrounding raised flower beds/and or rows of trees such as

1496-402: The public in 2008 and are managed by Essential Edinburgh . The square has several shops, including the department store Harvey Nichols and the designer precinct Multrees Walk . It is also home to The Edinburgh Grand Hotel and apartments, as well as a series of London chain restaurants and bars on its south side, such as Hawksmoor , Drake & Morgan, Dishoom and The Ivy . Dominating

1540-538: The public, such as during Open Garden Squares Weekend. Privately owned squares which survived the decades after the French Revolution and 19th century Haussmann's renovation of Paris include the Place des Vosges and Square des Épinettes in Paris. The Place des Vosges was a fashionable and expensive square to live in during the 17th and 18th centuries, and one of the central reasons that Le Marais district became so fashionable for French nobility. It

1584-525: The public. Those in central urban locations, such as Leicester Square in London's West End, have become indistinguishable from town squares. Others, while publicly accessible, are largely used by local residents and retain the character of garden squares or small communal parks. Many private squares, even in busy locations, remain private, such as Portman Square in Marylebone in London, despite its proximity to London's busiest shopping districts. London

1628-476: The residences of St Andrew Square. On the north side of the square, No. 21 was the birthplace of Lord Henry Brougham in 1778. His family was one of the first families to take up residency in St Andrew Square. Another resident was philosopher and economist David Hume , friend of architect Robert Adam . Hume was persuaded to move to St Andrew Square by Adam with the hopes that the recruitment of such

1672-467: The residents of the overlooking houses akin to a garden courtyard within a palace or community. Such community courtyards date back to at least Ur in 2000 BC where two-storey houses were built of fired brick around an open square. Kitchen , working, and public spaces were located on the ground floor, with private rooms located upstairs. In the 20th century, many garden squares that were previously accessible only to defined residents became accessible to

1716-479: The south side, so as to preserve its open vista. Only the eastern third of Princes Street is open to general traffic. The main length is restricted to trams, buses, taxis and cyclists only. Edinburgh Waverley railway station lies at the eastern end of Princes Street. The Princes Street tram stop is an in-road island, situated just west of the Royal Scottish Academy near the foot of the Mound . Princes Street

1760-440: The status of the street. Another problem has been that upper floors are often used for storage, rather than as office, retail or living space. At an early stage in post- World War II designs for the street, a "high level walkway" was planned, as a further shopping frontage for the first floor level, in lieu of the other side of the street. However the walkway as built was never more than a number of isolated balconies and in practice

1804-410: Was demolished in 2000, with a modern replacement opening to the public in 2003. Edinburgh Bus Station is located to the east of the square. It is served by long-distance bus & coach operators, such as Scottish Citylink and Stagecoach East Scotland . Local bus services have stops to the west side of the square on North St David Street & South St David street. St Andrew Square tram stop

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1848-519: Was headquartered at No. 42, until it merged with the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1969. Beneath the eastern streets of the square lies the long disused Scotland Street Tunnel , which continues under the New Town to Canonmills . The tunnel was built in 1847 as part of the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway . Its southern end was demolished in the 1980s during the construction of the Waverley Market shopping centre . Many famous Scots occupied

1892-481: Was inaugurated in 1612 with a grand carrousel to celebrate the engagement of Louis XIII to Anne of Austria and is a prototype of the residential squares of European cities that were to come. What was new about the Place Royale as it was known in 1612 was that the house fronts were all built to the same design, probably by Baptiste du Cerceau . In town squares, similarly green but publicly accessible from

1936-464: Was shown a print or drawing of the proposed New Town by Sir John Pringle , he objected to the name as he associated it with the notorious slum area of St Giles, London . At Pringle's suggestion, the street was instead named Prince's Street after King George's eldest son, Prince George, Duke of Rothesay (later King George IV ) as recounted in his 1767 letter to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. By

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