Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:48 pm Post subject: Glasgow in the 1970s - The City
I never carried out any systematic coverage of the city centre, just wandered about snapping this and that, with a bias towards buildings that looked to have a limited future - some did, some didn’t, and some shots are more interesting than others. There is also much that I missed, and this is regrettable, but there you are.
Putting them into any sort of logical order was problematic, like trying to drive a herd of cats, but I start with the area round the Cross (dull, as not that much has changed) and thread a course that is erratic but not entirely disjointed, ending up at the old Cowcaddens.
West end of the Gallowgate. November 1973
Glasgow Cross Station, built 1896, rebuilt 1923, closed 1964, demolished 1977. April 1973
Last edited by streapadair on Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:50 pm; edited 4 times in total
St Andrew’s Square. Laid out in 1768, this was the first of Glasgow’s squares - St Enoch’s followed in 1782 and George in 1787. The white painted building was one of the few remaining original houses, and now seems to have been replaced. The taller block has been handsomely restored, with that nightmarish lift shaft removed.
Turnbull St, west side at St Andrew’s St. March 1973
Goosedubbs at the Bridgegate. This one took a bit of working out - it must have been taken from a few yards east of Merchants Lane. Aird’s Lane is entering Goosedubbs from the left, and on the far right is the end of Howard St. The roof of, I think, the locomotive shed shows above the railway arches, and a 1929 map indicates a wash-house in Osborne St which may account for the chimney (though wash-house chimneys are generally round). The tall brick structure to the right of the cars has a hand-painted sign beneath the smoke-blackened aperture: NO NEED FOR ALARM - FISH BEING CURED. The Fish Market was of course just across the road, for another few years anyway. March 1973
Clyde St. The Fish Market, opened in 1872, moved to Blochairn in 1977, and after lying empty for some years this building had a brief and unsuccessful career as the Briggait shopping centre. January 1977
These are usually referred to as sea-horses, but this seems inadequate. They certainly have the head and shoulders of manic-looking horses, but the front feet are both webbed and clawed, while the scaly body tapers into a serpentine tail the end of which is also webbed and perhaps clawed. The roundel bears a crowned female head which has not even a passing resemblance to Victoria. The architects were Clarke and Bell, but the name of the sculptor is not known. January 1977
Stockwell St from the south. The railway bridge was removed in the summer of 1978. March 1973
Near the end for the Victoria Building at the corner of Clyde St and Stockwell St, making way for Carrick Quay. The future looked uncertain for the handsome block on the right, but happily it has survived. January 1977.
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