Following on from my post earlier on JT Rochead, here's his commercial block on St Vincent St. It was built in 1850 and was occupied for 150 years by John Smith & Co, the oldest book booksellers in the English-speaking world, having been founded in 1751.
#Glasgow
Some absolute gold from 1970. Views of the city including Glasgow Central, the George V Bridge, Dundas St bus station, the old entrance to Queen St station, George Square, Sauchiehall St, and various others.
From the 1970 short film "Mirror", which features a young Bill Forsyth.
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I'll post a few more photos of his work today, but let's start at the cross. We're looking west along Trongate, across the remnants of Glasgow Cross station, towards Rochead's magnificent Scots baronial City of Glasgow Bank building
Ever admired the Wallace Monument at Stirling? Rochead. What would the west end be without the multiple grand terraces off Great Western Road designed by Rochead? And that west end skyline would be rather different without the spire of his Park Parish Church. You get the idea.
If you ever drank in John Street Jam (or Committee Room No 9), you did so in a Rochead building. Similarly, if you ever thumbed the volumes in John Smith's on St Vincent Street, or munched a burger from Five Guys for that matter, you were in one of his. .
Born 212 years ago yesterday, John Thomas Rochead was an architect who, while not as prominent in the public consciousness of Glasgow as some, left an indelible mark on the city and across Scotland.
📷 Past Glasgow
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The current incarnation, more in keeping with the original, was installed in 1992.
The current version is suspended over the concourse, but the original, pictured above in 1956, was larger and sat 15 feet off the station floor atop John Menzies.
It was replaced by a more modern, square-faced clock in 1966, but it was never as popular with the public.
I hope you all remembered to put your clocks forward an hour last night.
Of all of Glasgow's timepieces, the Glasgow Central clock is probably one of the most familiar.
It's always been a meeting point, especially in the days before mobile phones made it easy to stay in touch.
📷 Reach Plc
Balmore Road, Possilpark, captured in glorious colour in 1974.
📷 ManOfYorkshire
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Looking up Elderslie St to the towers of Trinity College and Park Parish Church, by this point the only part of the church remaining. This scene is little changed today, only the cars hinting that the year is 1978.
📷 JR James Archive
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Looking down into Union Street, Glasgow, in 1947. To the right we can see Boots at ground floor level. Next to that is the famous Peacock's tea rooms, with Smart's furniture store in the centre of the image.
📷 Reach
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This week's Friday pub is the Star & Garter. Not the one up by Firhill, but down on New City Road just off St George's Cross. Here it is pictured on a sunny March morning in 1972, with the Clarendon Place gushet of 1831 visible to the far left.
📷 tinshack
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That should have read "the fire consumed the hotel".
That should have read "the fire consumed the hotel".
The fire consumed the terrace, but it would rise from the ashes. The façade was recreated from the original design using glass-reinforced concrete, and the Grosvenor was reopened in 1982 by owner Reo Stakis.
In 1978 a fire, thought to have been caused by a chip pan, broke out in the Grosvenor Hotel at nos. 1-9. The fire was attended by Royal Marine and Navy service personnel who were providing cover during a national strike by firefighters.
Looking down on JT Rochead's Grosvenor Terrace. At the time of its completion in 1858, the terrace was described as "the finest range of buildings in Great Britain, being described after the most palatial style of architecture".
#glasgow
Looking east along Sauchiehall St at the rear end of a couple of half-cab rear entrance buses in Corporation livery. The film playing at the ABC on the left is "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean", which dates the image to 1972.
📷 ManOfYorkshire
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John Burnet's stunning Venetian Renaissance building of 1871-4 at 30-34 St Vincent Place for the Clydesdale Bank, photographed in glorious colour back in 1975.
📷 Glasgow City Archives
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Looking south down Buchanan St in 1975. The plants and shrubs of the street's early pedestrianisation are evident. Vehicle access was phased out in stages, starting in 1972, until what had been one of Glasgow's main traffic arteries was fully pedestrianised in 1978.
📷 Newsquest
It is, of course, the corner of Howard and Dixon Streets 😉
In 1871 it became the first branch in the Cooper's grocery chain. The firm demolished Thomson's warehouse and built a modern block incorporating office space above, home for many years to a prominent Aer Lingus branch. That too has been demolished, replaced by a hotel.
The building that put the "Greek" into Alexander "Greek" Thomson. His first executed Grecian design, and his first important urban building, it was designed and built for J & WA Blair hat manufacturers in 1853.
📷 Glasgow City Archives
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There's a lot to see in this image of c1970. Looking across the hydraulic pumping station on High St to Townhead school, with the chimney of the Townhead baths left of centre. Off in the distance is the giant cooling tower of Pinkston Power Station.
📷 Jeff Holmes
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Traffic in the city of Glasgow, a comparison between 1964 and 1994. With shots of the Clyde Tunnel and the old Daily Record building.
🎥 STV
#Glasgow #history #vintageglasgow
A Glasgow icon is getting a new chapter. 🏛️✨
Planning permission has been granted to turn the former Watt Brothers building on Sauchiehall Street into a new 100-room hotel, in a £23m “heritage-led” redevelopment by Sandy and James Easdale.
#glasgow
This week's Friday pub is the Titwood Bar on Nithsdale Rd, Strathbungo. Andrew Small, a wine & spirit merchant, occupied these premises and obtained a public house licence in 1893. Mr Small paid an annual rent of £62 10/- to the owner of the property Mrs Janet McIntyre, 40 Nithsdale Rd.
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The former Dobbie’s Warehouse on Glassford St, photographed in 1975. A neat Glasgow-style commercial building of 1908, it was designed with a nod to Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It's been many things over the years, but has been reborn as the House of Gods hotel.
📷 Glasgow City Archives
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Gies a piece n jam.
