There are many historic buildings in Glasgow City Centre,
illustrating the city's rich architectural heritage from the Victorian era and
earlier.
If you walk along Gordon Street from Central Station's front
entrance you will soon come to Mitchell Street, which contains the former
Glasgow Herald building designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and completed in
1895.
Glasgow Herald Building
Glasgow has many industrial and commercial buildings of significant architectural merit, the most notable of which is the former Glasgow Herald Building (above). The lower floors were used as production space and the newspapers were dispatched onto the waiting lorries at the numerous openings all along Mitchell Street.
I have had a personal association with the Herald office since the 1960's when I was a copy-boy in the Editorial department which was on the second floor.
View from Mitchell Street, looking north You can view more photographs in my Lighthouse Illustrated Guide
St Enoch Subway Station, 1896
Coming out of Mitchell Lane onto Buchanan Street, the quaint little St Enoch subway station is situated at the bottom of the street, in St Enoch Square.
James Miller (left) worked in Glasgow for over 50 years, developing into one of the city’s most versatile architects of the early twentieth century. Miller was a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and although he practiced in the city for a very much longer period, his reputation hasn't survived as Mackintosh's has.
If you then proceed up Queen Street you will come to Royal Exchange Square, which was planned and laid out by Archibald Elliot & Robert Black in the 1820's and 1830's. These gentlemen also designed many of the buildings in the square, notably the Royal Bank at the western end, which is currently part of Borders bookshop.
Royal Exchange, Queen Street
The centrepiece of the square is the Royal Exchange (above), designed by David Hamilton (right). The building now houses Glasgow's Museum of Modern Art, which opened to the public on 29th May 1996.
The Royal Exchange is regarded as David Hamilton's architectural masterpiece and dates from 1829, when it was built around an existing mansion house which had been erected by tobacco merchant, William Cunningham in 1778. The total cost of the expansion was around £50,000.
The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington at the front of the building was created by Baron Marochetti. It was unveiled on 8th October 1844 before a large number of Waterloo veterans.
The Royal Exchange was purchased by Glasgow Corporation in November 1949 for £105,000 to accommodate Stirling's Library and the Commercial Library. The library opened on 30th April 1954 after a long wait for approval from the Scottish Secretary for capital funding. The library moved out in 1993, but returned in June 2002 when the basement area reverted to its former use. It now has the added attractions of a café and internet access which should increase the use of the building with the general public.
St George's Tron Church
Where Buchanan Street approaches the Underground Station and Queen Street Railway Station, you will come to St Georges Tron Church. It is best viewed from George Street where you can move back and forward to gain a good perspective of the façade which has interest at all the various levels. This very tall church was completed in 1809 to the designs of William Stark. The tower shows Baroque influences at the upper tiers, without resorting too much to the elaborate decoration which usually exemplifies that style.
Glasgow City Chambers
Queen Street leads into George Square, were you will find Glasgow City Chambers dating from 1888. The competition to design the new civic headquarters was won by the Paisley born architect, William Young. Young practised from London, but still maintained links with his native land.
St Vincent Street Church
Alexander Thomson's St Vincent Street Church, to the west of the city centre, was completed in 1859 for the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The constituent parts display different styles, with a typical Thomson Greek temple placed alongside an exotic clock tower which shows more oriental influences. The windows on the four sides of the tower each feature paired sculptured faces looking in on one another.
By the early 1960's Thomson's two surviving Glasgow churches had both lost their congregations and had fallen into decay. At the time when the abandoned Caledonia Road Church was destroyed by fire in 1965, the Glasgow Association of Spiritualists were occupying the St Vincent Street Church, which probably saved it from a similar fate.
Elgin Place Church
A purer form of Greek Revival was to be found just 100 metres away from Thomson's masterpiece in the form of Elgin Place Congregational Church at the corner of Pitt Street and Bath Street.
It joined the ranks of Glasgow's lost architecture after a blaze in November 2004 which was so severe that the church could not be saved. Demolition commenced on Christmas Eve and was completed in early 2005. The Church had been used as a nightclub under a number of guises, Cardinal Follies, the Temple and, from 2002, the Shack.
Glasgow School of Art
A short walk across Sauchiehall Street will take you to Glasgow School of Art.
The church was designed in the Gothic style by English architect, J.T. Emmett and was completed in 1852. It has many niches on the various sides containing statues of saints, indicating that it was not originally built as a Presbyterian place of worship.
Until recent times the church was known as St Matthew's - Blythswood Church of Scotland. It was closed in the late 1960's to be extended and renovated to the designs of Monro & Partners, architects. When it re-opened with its new name in September 1970, the church retained a small chapel dedicated to its previous patron, St Matthew.
A severe storm on 26th December 1998 caused part of the steeple to crash through the church roof all the way down to the crypt. Repairs were carried costing over £3 million. The church re-opened with a special service on 28th September 2001.
Mitchell Library, North Street
A wee bit further west, facing the approaches the Kingston Bridge, sits one of the the largest municipal reference libraries in Western Europe.
There was stuttering progress with the development of the remainder of the site which began in March 1939. Work was suspended by Government order in January 1942 owing to the continuing hostilities of the Second World War. Construction resumed in May 1949 and the first phase was formally opened by the 6th Earl of Rosebery on 9th April 1953. More storage space was created in the next decade, but it was an unfortunate fire in nearby premises which really led to an enormous expansion of the library's capacity.
The loss of the St Andrews Halls by fire in October 1962 created space behind the library to build a huge extension which opened in June 1981. This extension seamlessly incorporated the colonnaded façade of the Halls (left) with the new structure which was clad with matching stone quarried in the North of Scotland.
Following an extensive refurbishment completed in 2007 the main entrance to the library and the Mitchell Theatre is now in Granville Street, making better use of this magificent frontage.
The various departments currently have a combined shelf space for over 4 million books, much of which is accommodated in 3 levels of basement stores.
The additional public areas include a conference suite, theatre and exhibition space. The Mitchell is also adapting well to the age of electronic information with a large area turned over to public internet access.
Clyde Port Authority Chambers
Down by the riverside, at the corner of Broomielaw and Robertson Street stands the Clyde Port Authority's chambers which can best be seen from the south bank of the River Clyde. The main building was completed in 1886, but it is the Baroque extension of 1908 (above) which really catches the eye.
Custom House, Clyde Street
Facing the River Clyde, this building is a throwback to Glasgow's earlier history as a great trading port. It is one of the oldest buildings in the city centre, dating from 1840, although the side wings are later additions to the classical facade.
Broomielaw
The old dockside sheds which lined the river when Glasgow was a working port have now been
replaced by ultra-modern office blocks.
Glasgow & Edinburgh Architecture
The upper floors were used for the editorial and commercial side of the operation and again illustrate Mackintosh's unique style.
When the copytakers and sub-editors growled "BOY!" we came running to swiftly pass the papers on for the next stage in the process.
The building has been extended to create a modernistic visitor centre for architecture and design, the Lighthouse, which is unrecognisable from the old newspaper office I knew as a boy. The only familiar sight remaining is Ross's Pub on the corner which was always well used by journalists and production staff.
The architect was James Miller who produced a unique design which shows elements of Scots Baronial and Art Noveau styles which were fashionable in 1896 when the station was opened.
In the late nineteenth century he specialised in railway projects, before winning the competitions for both the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901. These prestigious commissions allowed him to expand his horizons and make a big name for himself.
In the years before the first world war he found a lucrative niche with his designs for the Peebles Hydro and the hotels at Turnberry and Gleneagles.
Miller was very much open to American influences which culminated in his design for the monumental Union Bank in St Vincent Street which was completed in 1927. This massive steel famed building, which would not look out of place in New York City or Chicago, is featured in the Commercial Glasgow page of this website.
The old house had been acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1817, who occupied it for 10 years until their nearby premises were completed. It was purchased by the New Exchange Company in 1827 for use as a business exchange and served that purpose until after the Second World War when it was bought by the City Council.
The portico features a magnificent row of huge Corinthian columns facing onto Queen Street. If you look closely you can see the difference in stone colour of the earlier mansion house to which Hamilton added a new front and back. The rear addition, which was built on the former garden, contains the main hall which has a richly decorated arched ceiling which could well distract you from the fine range of art works on display.
When the decision was made in May 1992 to use the building as a gallery, the Council approved the expenditure which eventually came to nearly £10million after the unexpected costs of eradicating wet and dry rot and piling for a new lift shaft were taken into account.
The ground floor of the building is completely dwarfed by the tower, and features a central entrance flanked by Doric columns.
The extravagant Baroque inspired design features numerous cupolas of different sizes situated on all of the highly decorated façades. There are also carved reliefs and statues celebrating the perceived greatness of Queen Victoria's reign over the British Empire. It is very much a building of its time, built at the height of British imperialism.
The Banqueting Hall on the second floor is richly decorated with works of art and elaborate stained glass windows.
Glasgow City Council recognised the international significance of the world's only surviving Greek Thomson church when they acquired the building in December 1970. They saved the building from dereliction and continue to carry out repairs and maintenance in order to conserve the church as much as possible in its original state.
The first prospective tenant was the Scottish National Orchestra who had expressed an interest in using the building for rehearsal rooms. The Council however preferred to let the church return to being a place of worship and rented it to a congregation of the Free Church of Scotland in October 1971. There were proposals in the mid-1980's to terminate the lease to the Free Church and use the building as a tourist attraction in a similar way to Thomson's Holmwood House and Rennie Mackintosh's Scotland Street School. This never happened and the building still fulfils its intended function.
To find out more about Thomson's architecture visit my Alexander Greek Thomson
page.
It was built in 1856 as an independent chapel and became a Congregational Church later in the century. It was a well known landmark principally for its jet black colour. Unlike most buildings of the same age the stone had never been cleaned and it carried one and a half centuries of industrial grime on its outer skin.
The architect, John Burnet, did not attempt to add modern touches to the ancient Greek style, and the simplicity of the building was its main attraction. The raised portico with Ionic columns led to the entrances to the body of the church and allowed the ancillary accommodation in the semi-basement to have natural light from windows along the side elevation.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh is known the world over for his unique style and the School of Art is one of the best examples of his work, showing subtle touches of art-noveau decoration. The building was erected in stages between 1897 and 1909.
I have created a dedicated Glasgow School of Art Illustrated Guide showing this remarkable building in close detail.
Renfield - St. Stephen's Church in Bath Street has the tallest spire in the city centre and although the building is situated near the bottom of Blythswood Hill, its slender tower can be viewed from a great distance.
It is shown in the 1860 Ordnance Survey map as an "Independent Chapel" and in the 1895 map as a "UP Church", the same group who occupied the nearby St Vincent Street Church at that time.
It would be difficult to find a greater contrast in styles, however, than with Thomson's Classicism and Emmett's Anglicised Gothic.
The original Baroque building (above), the creation of Glasgow architect William. B. Whitie, was opened on 16th October 1911 by the 5th Earl of Rosebery. At that time it provided accommodation for over 400,000 volumes. This building covered two thirds of the site which had been purchased in 1904 at a cost of £14,212. The money to buy the land came from the bequest of Stephen Mitchell, which is described in more detail in the webpage featuring my Landmarks of Literacy Exhibition which was displayed at the Mitchell Library in 1999. Andrew Carnegie provided half of the building's construction costs which totalled £52,000.
The library is a important resource for researchers from throughout Scotland visiting the Glasgow Room and Strathclyde Regional Archives, which are invaluable for students of local history.
J.J. Burnet took his love of the Baroque a stage further than he had done with the Savings Bank of Glasgow, which can be seen in the Merchant City page of this web site. The groups of statues surrounding the dome feature mythological scenes of heroes and animals.
It is a most unusual and little known building, which deserves a bit more appreciation.
It was designed and built "in house" by HM Customs. Their architect was John Taylor, and this was his only Glasgow project.
These early morning views of the riverside, which I took from the King George V Bridge, show no trace of Glasgow's former status as a great transatlantic port.
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Site created and maintained by Gerry Blaikie
Unauthorised reproduction of any image on this website is not permitted.
All original artwork and text Copyright© G.Blaikie 2002-2009.
