In 1727 Edinburgh merchant Andrew Gairdner, set up a charitable subscription to raise funds to build an orphan institution. The resulting Orphan Hospital, built between 1734 and 1781, below the North Bridge. By 1832 it had become very decayed and was replaced by a new orphanage, designed by Thomas Hamilton, at the Dean. This, second orphanage, was still in use until the later 20th century, but in the 1990s was converted into the Dean Gallery (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art).
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Narration to this short film:
“Waverley by Walter Scott was famously described as the first novel which was self -forgetful. To make way for the Waverley station, several of Edinburgh’s landmarks were removed, including the city’s first orphan hospital and its physical garden. How many people today, arriving or leaving Waverly, realise that this was Edinburgh’s hub of humanity.
Tomas Tranströmer received the Nobel Prize for his poetry. By the time of receiving
the award he had had a dense stroke and had lived with it unable to speak for almost two decades.”