Shandon is an area of Edinburgh within North Merchiston approximately three miles west of the centre of Edinburgh. It is bounded by Slateford Road to the north, Harrison Road to the east, the Union Canal to the south and the Glasgow-Edinburgh Shotts Line and Suburban rail lines to the west.
Etymology
Harris states that the name is presumably related to Shandon on the Gareloch, near Helensburgh. Robert Napier (1791–1876) the famous marine engineer built the mansion of West Shandon at Shandon, Dumbartonshire in 1851 situated on the east shore of the Gareloch. There does not seem to be a connection with the Napier family of Merchiston on whose ground the Edinburgh streets were constructed and a mistake could have occurred here in tracing the history of the wrong "Napier" in selecting names for these streets.
Shandon Conservation Area
Shandon contains the Shandon Conservation Area, which was originally designated on 29 March 1996. The conservation area is bound to the northwest by the Glasgow-Edinburgh rail line, to the northeast by Ashley Terrace and Shandon Place, to the southeast by the rear boundary walls of the rear gardens of Cowan Road and to the southwest by the Edinburgh suburban railway line. The conservation area has two distinct areas which are separated by a former Caledonian railway line. To the south, the ‘Shaftesbury Park’ colonies which were built in 1883-1904 and to the north, there is the smaller Shandon housing development which was built in 1880-1883.
Origins
Historical maps show that the land now covered by the Shandon Conservation Area, prior to development was open farmland. In 1880-1883, Shandon Crescent/Place/Road/Terrace/Street developed as an area comprising larger terraced dwellings and a small number of large detached villas. This housing development was built to cater for lower middle class families. In 1883, a site to the south of the former Caledonian Railway was bought by the Edinburgh Co-Operative Building Company (ECBC). The site was formerly in the possession of George Watson's Hospital and was known as Shaftesbury Park. Between 1883 and 1904, the ECBC built 330 houses at Shaftesbury Park. Similarly, as in Shandon, the type of social class that the Shaftesbury Park housing was aimed at lower-middle-class families. In the mid-19th century, Scottish housing reformers sought an alternative to the traditional tenement and there was a deliberate movement to find a working-class housing pattern which broke with the tradition and gave every family a front door and its own garden. The development of artisan housing in Scotland was pioneered in Edinburgh with a scheme by Patrick Wilson for the Pilrig Model Dwelling Company. This was the first colony-type development in Edinburgh. In 1857, the Rosebank Cottages were developed by James Gowans, and were modelled from the Pilrig System.
The form and layout of the Rosebank Cottages provided a prototype for a number of Colony developments by the Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company. The company was formed in April 1861 by a group of Edinburgh building workers with its principal aim being to improve living standards amongst the working classes. To achieve this, the ECBC provided affordable housing to encourage home ownership through access to mortgage finance. At Shaftesbury Park, the social emphasis shifted away from housing predominantly artisans, to lower middle classes.