FACES LAND - 1986

Here's a nice gritty urban scene looking along North Ellen Street towards a rather intimidating Jamaica Tower.
This place, as most of you will know, is called "Faces Land", with the housing on the left having gargoyle-like structures of human heads protruding from the window frames.
I also spotted a "Pola Cola" advert on the empty shop above a tag by Kinzie of the Hulltoon Huns.
Then there are the 2 black cars in the foreground - a cool Capri on the left and a lame Lada on the right.
Not forgetting the coal lorry making a delivery.
All this screams "1970's" to me, but in actual fact the photo was taken on 15th April 1986!
Click onto the image for a closer look.
Photo by Neale Elder.

HILLTOWN DETAIL - 1970'S

A couple of snapshots showing a section of the Hilltown taken around the mid/late 70's.

On the top photo, the photographer was standing in Stirling Street looking over at a few shops near the corner of North George Street.
The dark terracotta coloured premises on the left is The Auld Dundee Pie Shop owned by David Wallace. Next door is G.Page, shoe repairs. The small stone building with the large chimney stacks is Robert Gibb who was a joiner/DIY supplies shop, and the store catching the sunlight on the corner is the Co-Op.
This small group of buildings is still there today, although the shops are now different.
On the other photograph, however, the buildings further up past the Auld Dundee Pie Shop, have all been demolished.
Photos from Gordon C.

ACTING TROUPE IN HILLTOWN - 80'S

This is an acting troupe posing near the demolition site of the Tap O' The Steps pub on the corner of Hilltown/Victoria Road, sometime around the mid/late 80's.
That's Alison Burns far right, and possibly Derek Thomson far left but not too sure who the others in her company are.
Just wondering if this might be the group of actors who performed up at the DRCU in the Hilltown before Alison joined the more well known Wildcat cast.
All a bit hazy, but if you think you can supply further details, feel free to drop them into the comments.
Photo by The Bear.

VIEW MAGAZINE - 1978

This is the very first issue of View magazine, a free Dundee arts guide, published in 1978.

I've put up the foreword to give you the general gist of the mag content that outlines their coverage of local exhibitions and plans for the future.

Along with reviews of the main art centres in town, it also gives the lowdown on the 2 galleries shown above - the Dudhope Arts Centre and the Forebank Studios.

The Dudhope Arts Centre in St. Mary Place had workshop facilities for drawing, print making, painting etc, as well as it being a place putting on exhibitions, concerts, dance performances, that kind of thing. In addition, their coffee-bar area would be used for one-man shows.

The Forebank Studios in the Hilltown started up in 1976 when a group of local artists moved into what was an empty school at the time, and with a little help from the Scottish Arts Council, the Dundee Group (Artists) came into being.

The studios were both an artists workplace and exhibition space.

The exhibition advert for Forebank Studios was published in the Scottish press in Feb 1978.

There is also mention in View about a new film theatre that was due to open in 1979.

That was the Steps Theatre, which as we all know, opened AND closed down, ironically, because of the DCA springing up!

MYSTERY AUTHOR - 1980's

I'm going to have to rely on your assistance for this one.

The Bear sent me these photos of an author taken in Dundee around the mid/late 80's period, but he no longer has the details of who he is.
All the info I have is that he has a connection with local historian, Graeme Smith, and he has been featured in the Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
Anybody recognise him?

A-Z OF THE HILLTOWN - 1989

"This is a local book, for local people!" could have been the phrase used when this publication came out - an A-Z Of The Hilltown, published in 1989.

There were a few contributors involved but Niall McA Robertson is the chap getting the credit on the front cover.

I've put the index up on view to give you an idea of the variety of content inside its 50 pages - history, trade, buildings, characters, photos, pubs etc - just in case some of you fancy tracking down a copy, because it's a very useful reference source.

It was even produced locally within the Hulltoon boundaries, by the Grey Lodge Urban Printers.

ALEXANDER STREET MULTIS IN THE 80'S

Not everyone had the opportunity to look down onto the tap o' the hull, but some of those who lived in Butterburn Court did, because the top image is a view from that particular block taken on 30th July 1985.

The bottom half of the photo shows the Hilltown clock junction, while the central part of the picture has the same wasteland area as yesterdays but from the opposite direction, ie - the Caldrum Street/North George Street location, and in the background are 2 of the Alexander Street multis.

The other image is of Carnegie Towers taken from Jamaica Towers, with a rather sparse play park in shot too.

Little did we know, that when the photos were captured, their time would be up a quarter of a century later, these being the multis that are due to come crashing down tomorrow.

Photos by Neale Elder.

DERBY STREET MULTIS IN THE MID 80'S.

Love them or loath them, those of us who grew up during the 3 retro decades are the ones who lived with multis most. There were none before that period, and since that time many have come a tumblin' down into oblivion!

The ones in the photos here are the Derby Street multis, themselves due to be demolished next year.

The top picture makes a very satisfying abstract image to me and is of Butterburn Court, snapped on 2nd April 1985.

Middle photo was taken from the corner of North George Street & Church Street, and captured on 20th September 1984.

It features a hotchpotch of Hilltown housing, from the corner cottage at the front, to the derelict tenements on the right, with the multis at the back of it all.

Quite a lot of wasteland in-between as well, but one place that was active in amongst all this, was the cream coloured building - The Ladbroke Social Club.

The bottom picture is of the same area but from higher up, this being the view from Carnegie Tower on 30th July 1985.

You'll notice the rough bit of land beside the corner cottage has become modernised, and in fact wipes out half of Church Street.

The road running from the bottom-left with the empty tenement, is Caldrum Street.

It's good to view these Hulltoon humdingers on a grander scale, so to bring up the enlarged versions, just click onto the pictures.

Photos by Neale Elder.

THE PLAZA - HILLTOWN - 80'S

The Plaza up the Hilltown was not a picture house I went to very often, once or twice in the late 60's/early 70's and that was about it.

In fact it had a rather patchy life after that, with it closing down in 1972, reopening in 1975 for around a year or so and closing down again - then like a lot of cinema buildings it changed over to being a bingo hall in the 80's before eventually closing for good in the 90's, leading ultimately to it's demolition.

This shot of the Plaza building was taken sometime in the 80's.

Photo by The Bear.

ANN STREET ACTIVITY - EARLY 70'S

These 3 pictures were all taken along Ann Street in the early 70's.

The top image is the calm before the storm as it was snapped just before the main part of the demolition commenced.

The Heatherbell Bar was still open for business in January 1972 but by 1974 all these shops and tenements had disappeared.

The middle shot is further along the street where you can see an old building being demolished behind the modern block. If you go back to the top photo, it's still standing.

Photo 3 is looking back along Ann Street in the other direction with Ellen Street corner behind the JCB that has just reversed into a shop!

Photos from Gordon C.

DALLFIELD MULTIS IN PROGRESS - 60'S

Here's a crackin' shot taken at the bottom o' the Hull in the mid 1960's when work on the Dallfield multis was well under way.
This image has "the 60's" stamped all over it - the multis being built, the cars, the red phone box, the community police box and the billboard ad for Consulate cigarettes.
What a whopper!
Photo from Gordon C.

DALLFIELD MODELS - EARLY 60'S

It looks like an aerial photo at first and then you realise it's an architects model.

This miniature dates from the early 1960's when the idea of multi dwelling was forward thinking and ultra modern.

At the time, these new plans for the foot of Hilltown were to have 376 houses and a day nursery on site.

WELLINGTON TOWERS IN PROGRESS

Here's a couple of rare colour photos of Wellington Towers caught during and after construction.

The top one was taken in the 60's from Cotton Road near the junction of Ann Street (going off to the left) and Hillbank Road (straight on).

The second image from the early 70's is taken from virtually the same spot and shows the work on the multi complete, with an additional block added to the Hillbank Road section.

Photos from Gordon C.

GOODBYE MID STREET - 80'S

It's not just only buildings that disappear, sometimes it's the entire street, and here we are in the 80's bidding farewell to Mid Street.

Mid Street ran from the Dudhope Street/Hilltown junction, through to Constitution Road.

Top pic is from the Hilltown fork, Dudhope Street off to the right, Mid Street being demolished on the left.

The other photo is from Mid Street looking back over at the Hilltown.

It was time for it to go to make way for the Marketgait tunnel.

Photos by The Bear.

HILLTOWNS DISAPPEARING PUBS - 70'S

Here's a couple of Dundee pubs in the process of being wiped off the map.

The top one is the Empire Bar & The Copper Bell Lounge which was on the corner of Rosebank Street / Constitution Street.

Underneath it is Bradley's Bar & the Talk Of The Town Lounge located on the corner of Ann Street / Ellen Street.

Both pub positions are listed in my 1970 Directory, but in my 1974 Directory the 2 addresses don't exist, so this demolition occurred sometime in-between these two dates.

Photos from Gordon C.

ROUGH & FRASER ... AND BILSLAND'S - 60's

2 old bakers items for price of 1 on this photo.
First is the main part of the image, the Rough & Fraser shop, which, as you will all have spotted by now, was at the tap o' the hull.
I've figured this to be 323 Hilltown to be precise.
I reckon the photo would have been taken around the 1963-65 period because my 1966 directory has the premises as being a hairdresser by then, as do my early 70's directories.
Also, that date fits in with the car parked outside it which I think is either a Hillman Imp or Singer Chamois, both models springing up on the scene around 1963-65.
The other bakers item in shot is the Bilsland's Bread van driving past on the left.

DUNDEE TROPHY CENTRE - HILLTOWN

I take it this is the same Frank Gilfeather who is the ex boxing champ, journalist, TV host, futba pundit, playwright and author.
If so, this ad for his Dundee Trophy Centre shop up the Hulltoon is dated 1981.

THE HAWTHORN - LATE 80'S

This was the moment The Hawthorn's roots were wiped out forever.
Did they shout "TIMBER"?
With it went the other pub in shot on the corner of Victoria Road, the Top O' The Steps.
All gone!
Photos by The Bear.

THE HAWTHORN - EARLY 80'S

This image at the fut o' the Hull was taken on 3rd July 1982.
On it, tucked away bottom right of the picture wearing the Sunderland strip is, The Hawthorn.
For some reason, this pub seemed to suffer an arboreal identity crisis, because during it's history at this spot - 5 Hilltown - it has been called The Rowan Tree, then it became The Maple Leaf, before it eventually settled for The Hawthorn.
The various transitions of the pub's family tree, however, came to an end just a few years later...as you'll see in the next batch of photos!
Photo by Neale Elder.

THIS IS HUNS LAND - BEWARE

Shifting from yesterday's Urban environment to another urban setting - the Hulltoon.
The scrawl on the wall says it all!
Photo by The Bear.