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North Bridge in Edinburgh lies between Princes Street and the High Street. The bridge that
stands there today was opened by Lord Provost Sir Andrew McDonald 1897. Originally there
was a stone bridge on the site but that was removed to make way for the new bridge which
was almost one and a half times as wide as the original bridge. Sir William Arrol was
the contractor for the bridge and Blythe and Westland were the engineers.
Work began on the bridge in 1894 and it was built in 2 stages. Half of the bridge was
completed in 1896 and then the old bridge was removed and then the second half of the
bridge completed in 1897. The bridge is 171 metres long, and constructed of three spans
of iron girders which rest on stone piers and abutments. Each span is 53.3 metres long,
formed of 6 arched iron ribs which were built at Sir William Arrol Ltd in Glasgow. The architectural
details designed by Robert Morham, and this forms decorative cast-iron facades and festoon
work which is repeated in the masonry work of the stone pillars.
There are some buildings of note at either end of the bridge. Looking along the bridge
towards towards Princes Street, on the left lies the Balmoral Hotel, which was originally
the North British Hotel and that was built as a hotel to service Waverley Station and
also as a Head Office for the North British Railway Company. On the right lies an an office
building but that was originally the General Post Office for Edinburgh. Looking in the
other direction, towards the Royal Mile, on the right lies the Scotsman Hotel, which previously
was the headquarters of the Scotsman newspaper. And then on the other side lies the Carlton
Hotel with shops below, and that was originally Patrick Thomson's Department Store.
On either side of the bridge itself there are two memorial plaques, one of these commemorates
the laying of the foundation stone and opening of the bridge and the other plaque commemorates
the old North Bridge. There is also a stone sculpture by William Birnie Rhind, which is
a memorial to the soldiers of the King's Own Scottish Borderers who were killed in campaigns
between 1878 and 1902. During the 1990s there was some major restoration
work done on the bridge which included the replacement of cast iron parapets, panels
and columns which had deteriorated over the last 93 years. However, despite that the structure
is still sound.