Images of Dundee, Scotland 3

Dundee 3

Dundee Law (left) and Craigowl (right) form respective backdrops to the City PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Dundee City Chambers (left) vaguely recall the Pillars - the 1731 William Adams Town House torn down in the twenties to make way for City Square which is dominated by the Caird Hall (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Crighton Street with the impressive rear of the City Chambers, former General Post Office and Tayside House (left). A model of the William Adams Town House, popularly known as the Pillars, outside the Crighton Street pub of the same name (right). The Town house was demolished in 1923 to make way for James Caird's gift to the city of a hall bearing his name. One of his stipulations was that his hall had to resemble a jute mill - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

City Square in winter. A controversial building much unloved by many is Tayside House which peers over the Caird Hall (left). Tayside House will be demolished within the next few years and the unspoilt, spartan Sovietesque skyline will be restored (right) - see Demolition of Tayside House, 2013 - PHOTO (and photo editing!) Malcolm McCrow. The Caird Hall, along with Dundee High School and buildings in Exchange Street and Murraygate, were used to represent Moscow architecture in the BBC production Englishman Abroad.

City Square in summer - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

City Square in summer - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

City Square has effectively extended to the foot of Reform Street (left). The High Street's oldest building - Gardyne's Land dating back to the 17th Century - is in the centre of the photograph (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Dundee's dragon has moved back along the High Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Recently restored DM Brown building (Arnotts') has been divided up into a multitude of shops - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Clydesdale Bank Building (left), complete with Britannia (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Murraygate. The Clydesdale Bank, like British Linen Bank which became the Bank of Scotland at 35 Murraygate are no more and the vacant premises of both were up for let when this photograph was taken around 2006. The British Linen Bank building is indicated by the red "To Let" sign in the centre right of the photograph.- PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

How it used to be - the Murraygate viewed from what was, in 1963, the clearing house in the Royal Bank of Scotland - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

With the Gilfillan Memorial Church in Whitehall Crescent forming a backdrop a Travel Dundee bus loads at one of several dedicated stances in Whitehall Street (left) and another Travel Dundee bus at one of several dedicated stances in Crighton Street (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

City Churches and Overgate Centre viewed from High Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Memories of when Dundee's buses were owned and operated by Tayside Regional Council. A preserved and privately owned former Tayside Regional Council bus was parked in the Square on Saturday 8 March 2014 advertising the new Dundee Museum of Transport which was due to open in Market Street in March 2014 - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

What might have been - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

Travel Dundee has become Explore Dundee and in March 2016 a Wright Gemini Eclipse was turned out in the former Dundee Corporation Livery and generally appeared on a different route each day - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

By the early 2000s much of the city centre has become a sprawling bus albeit augmented with high-tech shelters. The buses are a Volvo B7TL with East Lancs Viking Body (left) and a Northern Counties bodied Dennis Dart (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Country (Strathtay Buses - taken over by Stagecoach in 2006) and city buses (Travel Dundee) awaiting departure - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

December 2014 and all change. Stagecoach has taken over Strathtay and was operating its vintage RML Routemaster in traditional London Transport livery - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Accompanying the RML were two NBfLs which Stagecoach had brought up from its London fleet. Known in London as "Boris buses", regrettably they did not stay long in Dundee - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Back to the 2000s and a Travel Dundee bus (above) awaits to depart from the top of Crighton Street - with digitised route indicators, the trend for bus companies to paint the route along the side of the vehicle seems paradoxical - especially when buses dedicated to a specific route are pressed into service on another. Continuing along High Street (above, left) the modern street lights recall the days of the tramcars. A former shop has become the Clydesdale Bank while the old Clydesdale Bank building has become an opticians - at least it's a change from a bank becoming a pub! PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Samuel's Clock - a favourite meeting place down the generations. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Reform Street - sealing the trash cans in preparation for the Party. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The police keep an eye on Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx . . . and everyone else outside the City Chambers. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

But where's the Party? (left) No coins in the fountains (right) PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Overgate from a cordoned off City Square (left) Hoping to be noticed (right) PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Reform Street (left) and High Street (right) with the Clydesdale Bank's new shop-like premises at City Square dominated by the Royal Bank of Scotland building virtually next door. - PHOTOs Malcolm Mccrow

Looking both ways from Reform Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

In 2013 the City Square was given a make-over which included a complete re-paving with this commemorative flagstone included - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

The finished result, some would argue, is even more sovietesque than before - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

Food-stall tram look-alike recalls memories of yesteryear at High Street/Commercial Street where once real trams passed in front of D M Browns (left) and G L Wilson's (right). The street lamp may be an original or perhaps just made to look like an original lamp standard that supported the tramway overhead wires - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

Reform Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Monkey business in City Square in May 2007. Apparently a Monkey was to appear in several Scottish cities and towns and if you saw all of them you could have completed a sentence with the different words each Monkey displays - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Apart from the Monkey's appearance in City Square, a temporary scaffolding was rigged and passers-by were able to climb up it to take in the view from the top - Dundee City Chambers (left); High Street (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

High Street with echoes of the past - a look-alike tramway lamp standard and the Pillars which were demolished in 1932 is recalled by the clock - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Overgate mark 3 (left); Crighton Street (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow
		Keeping green with potted plants on the roofs of bus shelters in the city centre. - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow

Commerical Street with The Law towering above the blank windows of the Albert Institute, now the McManus Galleries - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

With the takeover of Strathtay Buses by the ubiquitous Stagecoach, buses in this livery will soon be a memory. The bus is an MCW DR102/60 with an Alexander's body - PHOTOs (Jan 2006) Malcolm McCrow

the matching buildings once occupied by D M Brown (left) and G L Wilson (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Revamped Commercial Street/Murraygate crossroads (left); Admiral Duncan - hero the Battle of Camperdown - outside the episcopal St Paul's Cathedral - PHOTO Malcolm McCrow(right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Only the trams are missing from this Murraygate scene, little changed over 50 years although now a pedestrian precinct. The British Linen Bank's Dundee main office which became a branch of the Bank of Scotland was up for let in January 2006 has, by 2010, become a branch of Ladbrokes - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Another scene which has changed little over the years - the Seagate seen from Commercial Street (left) with a Volvo B7TL East Lancs Viking for Dundee City Centre (Littlewoods) (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Commercial Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Looking both ways in the Murraygate in early morning - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Murraygate and replicas of the street lamps that once supported the tram wires. The original tramlines were lifted and ornamentally re-laid after street refurbishment. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Shopping Centre (left) Shopping Lady (right) PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Panmure Street PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The once temperance Mather's Hotel (left) and Tayside House (right) along with its walkway to the Olympia Leisure Centre - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Dundee's isolated railway station (left). Discovery Point (right) viewed from South Marketgait - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Shades of Shore Terrace of the fifties when most of the city buses operated from the dedicated bus stance located behind the Caird Hall. But with the demise of the tramway system in 1956 and the addition of new bus services over the years, the Shore Terrace stance became too small. Attempts to get a new dedicated stance next to the railway station did not materialise. The walkway in the photograph (left) connects Crighton Street to Tayside House and Olympia. The single deck buses (left) are Volvos with Wright Handybus bodies and the double decker is a Wright Gemini Eclipse bodied Volvo B7TL - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Dundee's Dragon keeps an eye on model of the Royal Arch - the original was demolished to make way for the Tay Road Bridge. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

City Churches and Old Steeple (left) Nethergate (right) PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The City Churches gardens in September 2007 (left) are not so prime as they once were when they were protected by a fence. On Open Doors weekends it is sometimes possible to climb the St Mary's Tower dating from about 1460. In the Antiques Room the Nine Trades Stone (above) removed from the Trades Hall (1776) can be seen. It depicts the nine incorporated trades of Dundee - Bakers, Shoemakers, Glovers, Tailors, Bonnetmakers, Fleshers, Weavers, Hammermen and Dyers - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Belfry of St Mary's Tower with this bell manufactured by William Harris in 1872 - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Market Cross and the now rather bleak frontage to the City Churches viewed from the Nethergate (left). Looking from the Nethergate along Marketgait towards Dundee Tay Bridge Station which is officially now called Dundee Train Station - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Most of the railway yard has been removed but it still forms a barrier between Tesco Riverside and the plethora of new buildings which have sprung up on the former railway property (above). Looking towards Marketgait and the former Mather's Temperance Hotel (right). The Hotel is a listed building scheduled for redevelopment, but the high rise and unloved Tayside house is scheduled for demolition - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Viewed from Greenmarket, the Discovery Complex forms a backdrop to the much truncated railway yard with the roof of Dundee Train Station to the right of the Class 158 Diesel Multiple Unit (left). A fenced off style that appears to lead to nowhere (right) . PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Nethergate and former branch of the British Linen Bank at the top of Union Street - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Newlook Overgate - redeveloped twice in 45 years. - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Fancy tops in Nethergate (left) Commercial Street/Seagate right) PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Sheriff Court in Courthouse Square with, conveniently, Tayside Police Headquarters next door (see below left). PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Police Headquarters in West Bell Street (left). The University of Abertay (right). The Police Headquaters is built over the site of the former tram depot which was entered from Lochee Road, but there was a connexion from the tram depot into the old Police Station which was in Bell Street. Between the current Police Headquarters and the University building is the site of the former Bell Street Drill Hall which was occupied by the Territorial Battalion of the Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

As the University of Dundee ultimately dominated the Hawkhill, it would appear that the University of Abertay and the High School of Dundee will, between them, dominate Bell Street. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

The Bank of Scotland (left) and Debenhams (right) dominate the crossroads between South Marketgait and Nethergate. Strangely, only the new "gaits" (meaning streets) have not been corrupted into "gates". PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Where the Nethergate crosses Marketgaite, the Bank of Scotland building (left) is complemented by the second Overgate redevelopment within 40 years (right) which includes a Debenhams Department Store and Argos - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Massive former jute mills in West Marketgait (left), with the former Dundee Royal Infirmary Building just visible on the skyline . West Marketgait is connected to East Marketgait (right) by North Marketgait. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Mercifully, this old building in the West Port (left) was spared redevelopment, but the tenement behind it was not so lucky! The new Debenhams Building in South Marketgait is connected by a walkway to the multi-story car park (right). PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Crighton Street - like so many others at this time about (2006) was under repair. Those who remember the ex-London Transport buses acquired in the late fifties for operating mostly the Fintry route may be surprised to see a single deck bus for Fintry in Crighton Street. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

A modern bus shelter is almost a memorial to the former bus stance - now a car park - in Shore Terrace (left). Castle Street leading to High Street (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

New look Exchange Street - chosen by the BBC in the Seventies to represent a street in the Soviet Union. The buildings featured in the BBC film Englishman Abroad have been replaced. - PHOTOs Malcom McCrow

St Andrews Street and former Customs bonded warehouse. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Cowgate on a dreary January morning in 2006 with the Wellgate Centre (right) dominating the scene - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

St Andrew's church (above) with its dragon weather vane on the spire which had to be rebuilt in the sixties after a lightning strike. Bus stop in King Street with a Mercedes 0814D with Plaxton bodywork (right) - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Seagate - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

Seagate (left). A bus heads for the city centre as it continues down Princes Street (right). PHOTOs Malcom McCrow

Dundee Bus Station - about as far away from the railway station as you can get! The opportunity to build a bus rail interchange next to Dundee Train Station was missed. Accordingly the whole of the city centre has become an extended local bus stance while not all country buses operate from the Bus Station which originally catered for out-of-city buses. Further confusion is introduced by many charter coaches picking up and setting down at Discovery Point. PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow

New flats and old jute mills which are yet to be converted into "luxury" flats - PHOTOs Malcolm McCrow
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