Letter: Towering legacy

THE £5 million rescue plan for Riddle's Court in Edinburgh's Lawnmarket is exciting news (9 March). The legacy of Sir Patrick Geddes in the Old Town has been almost forgotten and it is most encouraging if Riddle's Court is going to be a Sir Patrick Geddes Centre. The main centre of Geddes' activity was, however, the Outlook Tower on Castlehill, with the Camera Obscura.

During the Second World War, the Outlook Tower Association still owned the building and the regional planning advisory committee for south-east Scotland and the Borders under Sir Frank Mears moved to it in 1945.

With the end of the war, the Camera Obscura became very popular and the old instrument in the top of the turret became unsafe. Alterations were made to project the image to the floor below and a new instrument from Barr & Stroud in Glasgow, which had manufactured periscopes, was commissioned at a cost of 613.

I started my career with Sir Frank Mears and my first architectural commission was the work at the Outlook Tower, at a total cost of 1,466.3.11.

At that time it was hoped to re-instate the Outlook Tower, and the World Room on the ground floor was fitted with a large contoured globe set at the angle of the Earth.

Each floor ascending to the camera was due to get its former designations of "English Speaking", "Scotland" and "Edinburgh" rooms.

Incidentally, I then had a lease of the flat at 6 James Court, where Patrick and Anna Geddes lived in 1897 at the start of their activities in the Old Town.

Unfortunately, the Outlook Tower Association has not survived, but the Outlook Tower still stands as a monument to Geddes's teaching.

Antony Wolffe

Gatehouse of Fleet

Kirkcudbright