Another display in the museum from the 60's/70's era was this model of the old Dundee town centre, a very impressive piece of work laid out on a large table. The problem I had with it back then however, when I was school age, was trying to figure out where it was. Everything South of Reform Street just looked completely alien. Of course that was pretty understandable as most of what was in the model had disappeared from the town centre. So the Overgate didn't resemble how it was , and the city square wasn't in the model either! Now that I am quite familiar with images of how Dundee looked way back in these very old days, I'd get on a bit better I reckon.
Having said that, you'll notice that the model has numbers on the roofs, well they had an identification index on the side of the display so you could match them up and read about the details of each individual building.
To help you make sense of the photo, the corner area, top right, is Boots/Reform St corner, which means the buildings to the left of it are the Overgate/High St area. The main building with #1 on the roof is the Town House - where the city square now is.
The superb model was made by C.G.L. Phillips & Alexander R Fair.
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ReplyDeleteThat model is going back on display on the ground floor of the museum when it reopens.
I loved this when I was a kid - and the 2 old rooms as well.Think i used to make my dad take me there every few weeks! can't wait for the museum to open again
ReplyDeleteI reckon, with todays technology, it would be possible to use a tiny pinhole camera to go around all the streets in the model and have it look on screen like you were wandering along the pavements of old Dundee. It would be pretty good to have a wee nosey around the old Vault area and imagine the aroma wafting out of Wallaces original peh shop!
ReplyDeleteAny budding movie makers out there looking for a project?!