Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
Beyond staring at the population there is a desperate race to the death going on between those who want to keep at least some semblance of their greatness and those who would cheerfully demolish them at a moment’s notice. There are huge financial rewards if you can take ownership of one of these buildings; demolish it and throw a brick shoebox in its place. Their fate – like so many before them – is often sealed on a golf course or in the hospitality boxes of Parkhead and Ibrox.
Last month, time finally came to an end for the badly damaged O2/ABC Cinema on Sauchiehall Street in the Glasgow School of Art fire. Built in 1875, it is certain that, at least, its lovely frontage could be saved, even if the rest of it had to be turned into student accommodation. The owners, however, disagree that the arch can be saved and have wasted little time in demolishing this city center diadem. This week the wreck crews moved in.
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Glasgow Labor MP Paul Sweeney has made it his life’s mission to highlight the threat to the city’s magnificent built infrastructure and preserve as much of it as possible. His expertise in securing preservation orders on some old buildings has made him an enemy of those who would prefer to demolish them and feed the profits.
He is my tour guide for this walk among Glasgow’s architectural tombstones. We start at the ABC cinema site which feels needlessly demolished. “I have one of the best structural engineers in Scotland who deal with historic buildings. He made an assessment of it for the owners of The Campus Bar next to it as there was a dispute with the owners of the ABC building.
“The engineer said it was structurally sound. The tin roof is quite light, while the concrete dance floor and facade are fine. It could easily have been rebuilt. Why were they so desperate to get rid of him?
“Is it because you can get more money if you turn it into student accommodation? The Art School fire complicated things, of course. If you can charge the insurance money and top dollar for student apartments, then why should the owner give a toss about the architecture?”
Historian Frank Worsdall’s landmark 1981 book, The City That Disappeared, read like an inventory of Glasgow’s lost architectural heritage. He describes 1971 as the city’s ‘black year’.
“In that year,” says Paul Sweeney, “10,000 houses were demolished in the city. Overall, Glasgow demolished 100,000 houses. And that didn’t include all the commercial buildings. You could produce an updated volume on what has happened in the half century since then.
‘The Art School fire complicates matters’ (Image: free) “The city has shrunk by at least a quarter. It was the only city in the world apart from Detroit whose population had passed one million before shrinking back below that level. As people left, all these schools, libraries and other public buildings were left behind, many of them magnificent. It got to the stage where there weren’t enough people living above the shops to support them.
“Glasgow has become a donut city. Only around 20% of Glasgow’s bars and restaurants are open after midnight. In Edinburgh it is twice that. Edinburgh has people living in the city centre. In Glasgow people can’t even get a bus or train late at night, so people are further prevented from being here. Increasingly, planners are using a loose set of guidelines for city development to overrule some decent private sector proposals.”
The consequences can be disastrous. A building can fall into a state of disrepair where there is no choice but to demolish it. We arrive at the old College Building in Cathedral Street. This was opened by Harold Wilson on the same day that Coleg Langside and Coleg Barmuloch were opened.
“They were very much of their time,” said Mr Sweeney, “it was a ‘white heat of technology’ period. When the new college building was built there was no succession plan as to how the old college building could be used. It was just a dump. It’s a listed building, but it’s been rotting there for years.
“Where is the obligation on public authorities to make sure that the buildings they leave are looked after? Look at Stobhill Hospital and Ruchill Hospital, all that remains is the water tower. Then there is the old listed Gartnavel Royal. The reason why that cannot be developed is probably because there is no access road. Can’t the city muster something to punch through some of these obstacles? There’s no real overall effort.”
And then we arrive at the most glorious of all Glasgow’s threatened buildings: Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s Church stands out and magnificent at the west end of St Vincent Street. Until recently, an audience had been there before a piece of plaster fell from the ceiling and caused them to leave.
“It’s been eaten by foliage and undergrowth,” Mr Sweeney said. “The pillars are now covered with nets. Internally, it has even become difficult to raise scaffolding in the sanctuary as the pressure on the floor is not strong enough.”
We are both thinking the same thing: what is the city doing about this beautiful building? Before long it will be beyond all repair and salvation.
On the other side of the road, is St Columba’s Gaelic Church. Here though, there is some hope. It is one of several old stone masterpieces around the city that have been bought by Bradley Mitchell, a local builder who, according to Mr Sweeney, “gets his boys in to sort it out and salvage it and make something of it “. The possibilities are endless: perhaps a traditional music venue or small, affordable studios for Glasgow’s vibrant community of young creatives.
We arrive at the bleak Scottish Power renewables building which has been given permission to pollute the skyline at the foot of St Vincent Street. It’s a lumpy, unattractive, featureless excrement and you wonder why it was allowed a house room in the middle of great old architecture. It will soon be joined by Scotland’s tallest building which will (you guessed it) house more students.
We’ve arrived in Gofan and we admire the smart and striking livery that adorns some of the old shop fronts: a cheap, cheerful and effective way of adding some elegance. It lights the whole street up.
Have you spent some time in Govan recently? This place has always been blessed with architectural magnificence. Over there is the art deco curved glass and brick facade of the former B-listed Govan Lyceum, built in 1938. It has been derelict for 18 years but is not beyond saving and may be reused as an event venue. Could the traffic from the new Gofan to Partick Bridge provide some future viability?
“We don’t celebrate this enough,” said Mr Sweeney. “This is where they cracked what that engineering and shipbuilding union could achieve. They had started building engines and then thought: why don’t we build the ships too? A building like this just builds confidence and genius.”
Bradley Mitchell has bought this old building as well and he and his “boys” plan to turn it into artist studios. “When the right people with the right heart want to do the right thing,” said Mr Sweeney, “good things can happen with our old buildings. But there is only one Heritage Officer left at Glasgow City Council and she has run out of steam. At one time the council was the largest employer of architects. Now he has nothing.”
Tomorrow: Tour of Laurieston, Gorbals and Carlton Place; why the UK Treasury
ready to demolish old buildings and how planners block new ways of reviving them
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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