Albert Institute, Dundee - Ref: WC0994
This photograph from the Alexander Wilson collection shows the Albert Institute in Dundee, as it was then known. Today, it has been renamed McManus Galleries in honour of one of the city's Lord Provosts.
The original Sir George Gilbert Scott design (based on his plans for Hamburg's town hall) was expanded twice. Meadowside at the north end of Commercial Street is visible at the right, and part of the Royal Exchange to the left.
The statue of Burns is a copy of one made by Sir John Steele for Central Park, New York. It was commissioned and unveiled (after some 25000 people marched from Magdalen Green) by Frank Henderson MP on 16 October 1880. It cost £1400.
For more information regarding The McManus please check their website
Alexander Wilson who took this photograph, was a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923.