A set of forgotten plans reveals that Edinburgh's iconic Usher Hall was originally intended to have been built in the city's lush and tranquil West Princes Street Gardens.
Had the proposals gone ahead, the world-famous concert hall would have been situated in the Gardens under the south-facing shadow of Edinburgh Castle opposite Frederick Street.
It would have meant the Usher Hall taking over a valuable verdant strip of the city centre next to the main railway line to Glasgow.
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But after a period of intense discussion and debate, the ambitious plans were thrown out and the 2,200-capacity venue eventually constructed on the site of the old Lothian Road Board School in 1914.
Contemporary sketches and newspaper reports, however, show just how close the Usher Hall was to occupying a sizeable stretch of the capital's main public park.
A digitised image shared by Edinburgh City Archives shows an artist's impression of the proposed concert hall, which was to be the centrepiece of a new plaza immediately to the west of the Mound, roughly in line with the Scottish National Gallery.
The proposal was dreamt up by the esteemed Glasgow architect John J. Burnet, who submitted an elaborate series of plans and photographic views to Edinburgh's Lord Provost in 1908.
"The idea has so captivated me that I have felt myself forced to work it out and submit it for criticism," wrote Burnet, who is remembered for a number of prominent buildings in Glasgow and London.
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"In the general scheme, I have not hesitated to alter existing matters where I thought such alteration would contribute to the artistic character of the design; but, apart from the details, the existing main lines are accepted and the present walks, trees, and general irregularities of surface not covered by the building are preserved."
Unfortunately for John J. Burnet, the architect's desired location for the concert hall would prove too challenging for the city to accept.
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On December 5, 1908, a report in The Scotsman picked apart Burnet's plans: "The [proposed concert hall's] 'grand' entrance would be from the Mound, but an exit for carriages is shown winding round the foot of the Castle rock and connecting with the King's Stables Road.
"There is nothing said as to the cost of the scheme, or of possible foundations for a heavy building of this character, or of the inconvenience of having a concert hall so near a busy railway."
In the end, Princes Street Gardens was seen as an unworkable location for a project of this scale, and the Usher Hall would rise on Lothian Road instead to a design by Leicester architects Stockdale Harrison & Howard H Thomson.
The hall was named after Edinburgh brewer Andrew Usher, whose donation of £100,000 was matched by council contributions and other donors.
Construction of the venue began in 1911 and the building officially opened in March 1914, with a performance by the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union and the Scottish Orchestra.
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