Duncan Place and Leith Academy
Duncan Place's history goes back to the 16th Century. The building has connections to Leith Academy - one of the oldest schools in Scotland. In 1560 Leith Academy was known as Leith Grammar. The school has had many venues including Trinity House and The Hospital building in South Leith Parish Churchyard. In 1806 it moved to a purpose-built school which stood on the grounds of Leith Primary School on St Andrew Place. The school changed its name to Leith Academy in 1888 and the building of 1806 was replaced with what is Leith Primary School building today. The school's growth led to the need for a new building and by 1930 the Duke Street Leith Academy (now Academy Lofts) was constructed. The photograph shows the foundation stone for this building being laid. If you look closely you will see the flats on the corner of Duncan Place and Duke Street (looking towards the bottom of Leith Walk). There is a distinctive cross motif like an 'archers slit' on the side of the building that remains today. In 1991 the current Leith Academy at Academy Park, off Easter Road, was opened where it continues to educate and prepare the young people of Leith for their adult life and possibly their contribution to the story of Leith.
Duncan Place was built to provide additional facilities for Leith Academy, allowing more vocational subjects and was more like a Technical College in 1920/21. It was originally a two-and-a-half-storey building with a gymnasium and stage, a wood workshop, artist studio space and classrooms. Rendered in red brick with brick dressings and with a slated mansard roof. There is a Commemorative plaque to SW elevation, which affirms its small part in 500 years of Leith education institutions.
Architect – George Craig (b.1852, d.1928)
The Dictionary of Scottish Architects tells us that George Craig was born on 17 January 1852 and articled (became a trainee) to James Simpson from 1867 to 1871. James Simpson (1830–1894) was a 19th-century Scottish architect, particularly associated with Leith. Simpson served as the Burgh Assessor and Town Architect of Leith and created and oversaw the Leith Improvement Plan of 1888.
George Craig attended Edinburgh Royal Institution and Leith School of Art, and was taught to paint by a Mr Lewis of Edinburgh. He subsequently became assistant to George Brown of Leith, then to John Lessels's offices and Sir Robert Rowand Anderson. He travelled around France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
Craig commenced independent practice in Leith in 1880 and became Simpson's successor as architect to the Leith School Board. He also served as an architect to the Highland Railway and an as-yet-unidentified Inverness practice. He took an active part in public work and was a keen Freemason. He published a book on Building Stones used in Edinburgh: their geological courses, relative durability and other characteristics (1892), published by the Edinburgh Geological Society and adopted by the Geological Society. He was elected LRIBA (Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects) in the mass intake of 20 July 1911. His nominators were; Hippolyte Jean Blanc, James Bow Dunn and James Anderson Williamson. Craig died on 18 April 1928.
He was responsible for for a variety of buildings: swimming baths, hospitals, schools, churches, halls, and warehouses. His skills were used throughout the country: Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, Peeblesshire, and Fife & Inverness. He also appears in The Who’s Who in Architecture of 1914.
