Stirling Area Shops 1894 – 1950

‘Tis the season to be shopping! A look at some of the lovely plans of shop buildings that we have for the Stirling area at the Archives.

Macaree Brothers, King Street, shop front, plan of alterations dating from 1894. One of Stirling’s iconic shops, sadly recently closed.

John Allan’s ‘Wolf Craig’ building, built for local grocers Macfarlane and Robertson in 1897. The wolf statue is a reminder of the story of the Stirling Wolf whose howls are said to have alerted the Town’s guard to the stealthy approach of Danish raiders back in the Dark Ages. It and the other incised stones on the building are typical of John Allan’s interest in symbolism and legend.

D.&J. MacEwen’s shop on Port Street and Dumbarton Road is another iconic Stirling building. These plans date from 1901 when the shop front was remodelled.

This is the original home of the Stirling Observer in Upper Craigs, dating from 1906.

The Stirling Gaslight Company had a retail outlet for gas appliances in Thistle Street. These plans date from 1928. At this time, gas lighting was common in people’s homes although it was not long after this that electric lighting came to the area.

This building at the top of Causewayhead is still a Co-op shop. The design, from 1935, is the height of modernity for the time.

William Drummond’s seed shop on Murray Place is built in the Art Deco style popular in 1950. The Drummond family had been seed merchants in Stirling since the late 18th century and the name Drummond was also well known locally for the production and distribution of religious literature via the Stirling Tract Enterprise, founded by Peter Drummond in 1848.

This beautiful drawing shows the façade of Thomas Elder’s bakery on Port Street in 1950.

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