Vault Lights in Edinburgh

Vault lights are glass prisms set into sidewalks to let light into basements below. I first came across a vault light in Lviv, but I didn’t know what it was until I saw them in Edinburgh and Tallinn and started researching what they were. Hayward Brothers In Edinburgh, I found a […]

Read More

Tramway Rosettes in Glasgow

When I was Glasgow, I noticed on several buildings in the city center the same tram rosettes that are in Lviv. Thus I immediately knew that Glasgow once had a tram system. Glasgow’s electric tram route began in 1898. In 1962 the city abandoned its tramway system — the last city in […]

Boot Scrapers in St Andrews, Scotland

St Andrews, a historic town a few hours away from Edinburgh, has its share of boot scrapers – including some rather unique ones. Finding other uses for these cavities — a sign that boot scrapers are obsolete.

Cisterns in the Old Town, Edinburgh

Starting in 1676, water from several springs near Edinburgh was piped into a reservoir at Castle Hill, from where it was conveyed to a total of 14 cisterns on High Street and the nearby area. In about 1820 these public wells went out of use with the introduction of additional […]

Police Boxes in Edinburgh

British police boxes (telephone kiosks or callboxes used by the police or by the public to contact the police) first appeared in Glasgow in the 1891. Edinburgh’s rectangular boxes were designed c. 1937 by an architect inspired by the city’s neoclassical architecture. At their peak, 86 police boxes were in […]

Edinburgh’s Ghost Signs

I expected to find more ghost signs in Scotland, but nevertheless I found some interesting ones in Edinburgh. I’m not sure about the dates of these – unlike in Ukraine, the language of the signage doesn’t help to date the sign. But by what is being advertized and font it seems like […]

Edinburgh’s Boot Scrapers

Edinburgh is awash with boot scrapers, especially in the New Town (built between 1765 and 1850), where just about every building’s front door or front stairway is flanked by boot scrapers. The boot scrapers come in various designs. Some are attached to the railings of the balconies, but most are […]