Until the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, the current City Centre represented the full extent of the City of
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, Scotland.
Now roughly encircled by the
A991 dual carriageway (incorporating the Marketgait), the city centre is now the main shopping and commercial district. Unlike the
city centre
A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
of
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, many of the city centre's streets (especially in the southern and eastern quarters) are not built on a
grid plan
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
and in that way have more in common with the street plan of the Old Town of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
(although most buildings in Dundee's city centre date from the 19th century or later).
Areas
The modern city centre is still divided into the seven medieval thoroughfares: the Seagait, Murraygait, Marketgait (now High Street), Nethergait, Overgait, Wellgait and the Cowgait- “Gait” being a
Scots word for street- which all remain today (albeit with modified spelling and with both the "
Overgate" and "
Wellgate" having become enclosed shopping centres.)
Many of the medieval closes were demolished in the late 19th century to make way for larger and grander Victorian streets. However, the area to the north of the city centre between Meadowside, Ward Road, and the Marketgait is mostly based on a grid system with wide avenues and crescents, due to much of this area being planned and designed in the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
.
Cityscape
At the heart of the city centre is the City Square, home to two of Dundee's principal cultural venues; the
Caird Hall
The Caird Hall is a concert auditorium located in Dundee, Scotland. It is a Category A listed building.
History
The site currently occupied by the building was occupied by a series of closes and tenements. The foundation stone for the building ...
, the Marryat Hall along with the
City Chambers and other businesses. The multi-storey
Tayside House
Tayside House was an office block development in the City Centre, Dundee, city centre area of Dundee. The building served as the headquarters for Tayside Regional Council and its successor organisation following local government reorganisation, ...
, completed in 1976 to accommodate the then new
Tayside
Tayside () was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 16 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named after the River Tay.
History
Tayside region was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act ...
Regional Council, and latterly the main headquarters of
Dundee City Council
Dundee City Council is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for Dundee City council area, Dundee City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Dundee was formerly governed by a municipal c ...
, was located directly behind the City Square. It was demolished in 2013 as part of the redevelopment of the waterfront area, with the council HQ moving to
Dundee House.
Offices
The offices of
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd,
Alliance Trust
Alliance Witan plc, formerly Alliance Trust plc, is a publicly traded investment and financial services company, established in 1888 and headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE ...
, the
McManus Galleries
The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum is a Gothic Revival-style building, located in the centre of Dundee, Scotland. The building houses a museum and art gallery with a collection of fine and decorative art as well as a natural history co ...
, the
High School of Dundee
The High School of Dundee is a private, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only private sc ...
,
University of Abertay Dundee
Abertay University () is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology w ...
the Barrack Street Natural History Museum, the
Episcopal St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
, Dundee Central Library, Dundee's main
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
and the headquarters of
Tayside Police
Tayside Police was a territorial police force covering the Scottish council areas of Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross (the former Tayside region) until 1 April 2013, at which point it was subsumed into Police Scotland. The total area co ...
are all to be found in the city centre.
There is also a ten-story office building called
City House located in the Overgate.
Statues
Many of Dundee's public statues are scattered throughout the neighbourhood, subjects include
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
,
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
,
Admiral Duncan, the Strathmartine Dragon,
James Carmichael,
Desperate Dan
Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the now-defunct Scottish comic magazine '' The Dandy''. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937 and became the magazine's mascot. He is apparently the world's stro ...
and
Minnie the Minx, there is also a plaque to
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace (, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of St ...
, on the supposed site where he began his war for independence by murdering the son of the English governor,
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
or
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
of Dundee after he had made a constant habit of
bullying
Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...
him and his family. Although this local folk tale may or may not be true, it is known that that St Paul's Cathedral, where the plaque is located is the site of Dundee's old
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
, which the army of Wallace and
Andrew Moray
Andrew Moray (; ), also known as Andrew de Moray, Andrew of Moray, or Andrew Murray, was a Scots esquire, who rose to prominence during the First Scottish War of Independence. He initially raised a small band of supporters at Avoch Castle i ...
laid siege to early in the
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and 14th centuries.
The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotla ...
.
Developments
In 2000, a major public consultation into the future of the waterfront was conducted to coincide with the partial redevelopment of the Seabraes area (including the new Science Centre). A masterplan was developed, with infrastructure work being undertaken (including strengthening of the railway tunnel) in 2006. In 2009, one of the major elements of the redevelopment was undertaken: the realignment of the
A92 Tay Road Bridge
The Tay Road Bridge carries the A92 road across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland, just downstream of the Tay Rail Bridge. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in Europe, and was opened in 1966, rep ...
offramps. The opening of a new museum and gallery -
V&A Dundee
V&A Dundee is a design museum in Dundee, Scotland, which opened on 15 September 2018. The V&A Dundee is the first design museum in Scotland and the first Victoria and Albert museum outside London. The V&A Dundee is also the first building in the ...
- was announced in 2010. Removal of several key structures including Tayside House, the Hilton Hotel and Casino, the 1970s entrance buildings to the
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
, the Olympia Leisure Centre (relocated to East Marketgait) along with associated pedestrian over-bridges, was completed in 2013. The project, as a whole, was expected to be completed by 2017.
References
{{Areas of Dundee
Areas of Dundee
Central business districts in the United Kingdom