<![CDATA[BuildEdinburgh: History]]>https://www.buildedinburgh.com/s/historyhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rZY_!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faef2d2f0-cd89-41f3-9c73-e5b80da605b3_1212x1212.pngBuildEdinburgh: Historyhttps://www.buildedinburgh.com/s/historySubstackThu, 21 May 2026 20:09:04 GMT<![CDATA[Don't look up, look down]]>https://www.buildedinburgh.com/p/dont-look-up-look-downhttps://www.buildedinburgh.com/p/dont-look-up-look-downWed, 06 Aug 2025 08:01:18 GMT

THERE’S an old adage that you should look up to discover fascinating architectural heritage that normally escapes attention. But in Edinburgh, there is also a good argument for looking down, at the ground beneath our feet.

That’s because one of the capital’s sporting pioneers has, quite literally, left his mark on the city’s pavements.

Patrick Cavanagh w…

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]]><![CDATA[Memories of The Inch]]>https://www.buildedinburgh.com/p/memories-of-the-inchhttps://www.buildedinburgh.com/p/memories-of-the-inchTue, 27 May 2025 08:54:41 GMT

WE were that family. Five generations, living in what The Scotsman newspaper described as the worst slum in the city.

The bottom of Calton Hill back then - in the early 1950s - was a lot different to the bottom of Calton Hill today. Families often lived in what were commonly known as ‘room and kitchens’: literally one room with a kitchen alcove; with one…

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]]><![CDATA[Edinburgh's 'ghost signs']]>https://www.buildedinburgh.com/p/edinburghs-ghost-signshttps://www.buildedinburgh.com/p/edinburghs-ghost-signsMon, 19 May 2025 12:42:56 GMT

I CAN very easily remember the first ever ‘ghost sign’ I saw in Edinburgh.

Our family had just moved to Bruntsfield Place and, there, as I looked up to the first-floor level of a tenement block on Barclay Place, was a hand-painted sign for R. Dolan Chimney Sweeper.

I was born in Ottawa, Canada, and grew up in a fairly rural semi-suburban town in Québec. …

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