Buchanan Street Station (Not Subway)

Moderators: John, Sharon, Fossil, Lucky Poet, crusty_bint, Jazza, dazza

Postby john-g » Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:12 pm

Some comparison shots....

Parliamentary road, 1955. Correct me if I'm wrong here but I believe, the spire in the far distance is the Townhead church on Roystonhill, tallest spire in the city and recently saved from the council by determined community action:) The tenements in the middle distance are obviously all gone replaced by high rises, Buchanan bus station I believe sits behind the tall building extreme right, The brutal St Andrews house office block has replaced the beautiful church in the foreground.
Contemporary scenes...
Image


....thanks Russell!


This subject really irks my ire, so I'm going to indulge myself a little rant...

We hear a lot about the Highland Clearances, but really Glasgow's Comprehensive Redevelopment was if anything worse. Can you imagine if a developer today came along and forcibly evicted tens of thousands of people (many against their wishes), razed their (structurally sound) homes, ripped apart communities, obliterated all pubs,shops and businesses and replaced them with cheap, mass produced, sub standard slabs with no more amenities than a patch of grass? And here's the killer punch.... ALL DESPITE REQUIRING NO POST WAR RECONSTRUCTION.

The principal villain of the piece was a Mr ROBERT BRUCE (Glasgow's city engineer), who was responsible for the ring road, as well as insane plans to knock down the entire city centre (including the city chambers), to be replaced by tower blocks (The Bruce plan).

It was his "Central area Report and Highways Plan" of 1965, that did most damage. All approved by the then Secretary of State for Scotland. This despite the citizens of Edinburgh successfully fending off a similar scheme for their city, evidently Glasgow's architecture and History was evidently considered far more expendable. Incidentally, the Edinburgh plan was tabled by the Conservatives, who were booted out of office as a result. In Glasgow then as now a one party state, their was no such recourse. In 1972 the convener of the Highways committee declared that he did not want the "new Glasgow to be a museum piece for the delectation and delight for visiting professors of architecture".

Contrary to myth people EVEN AT THE TIME, mid to late sixties, knew that they were a disaster. There was the Ronan point disaster in London, programmes aired showing the squalid conditions within the blocks. The Royal Institute of British Architects even held their annual conference in the city in 1964, Lord Esher had expected to see some squalid slum but was absolutely astounded by the magnificence of the city, he urged the council to immediately establish conservation areas, but were completely ignored. Frank Wordsall in his book The City that disappeared tells what happened when the Victorian group pleaded with the Lord Provost...... "Do they seriously suggest that the local authority should have to carry the financial burden of preserving all the city's Victorian buildings? I would not like the impression to get out that Glasgow was a Victorian city! Many old buildings will have to come down and considering the state of them, whether Victorian or Edwardian, thank goodness for that." Instead the council accelerated their rebuilding program. Why?

The official council line was to make "Glasgow the most modern city in Europe" the imbeciles we elected, didn't seem able to grasp that they were already sitting on top of the finest Victorian city in the world. Indeed it was always nothing more than complete bullshit, if they had such pride in the city why use the cheapest materials? cut corners in construction? Glasgow's "Vision of the future" amounted to nothing more than the worst slums in Europe.


How/Why could it have been allowed to happen?

For a start the council were planner AND developer, the council were approving their own decisions, they were unstoppable.

I'll bet corruption played a part too, who profited from the construction?

The seventies were politically the polar opposite of the Victorian age, private enterprise and home ownership were to be suppressed, the state would provide everything under Glasgow's quasi marxist council.

No meaningful opposition for voters to turn too.

Near economic collapse, combined with the soot blackened buildings just led to a general air of depression and despondency.
john-g
First Stripe
First Stripe
 
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2004 5:49 pm

Postby germistonguy » Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:28 pm

Any body read Our Fathers by Andrew O' Hagan?

I didn't really get what it was about, but I feel there was a subtext, a sideways swipe if you like at the city planners, cooncillors et al regarding slum clearances and rehousing in hi rise schemes.

Give it a read, see what you think.
germistonguy
Second Stripe
Second Stripe
 
Posts: 130
Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2002 2:49 am

Postby james73 » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:13 pm

john wrote:Some comparison shots....

Parliamentary road, 1955. Correct me if I'm wrong here but I believe, the spire in the far distance is the Townhead church on Roystonhill, tallest spire in the city and recently saved from the council by determined community action:) The tenements in the middle distance are obviously all gone replaced by high rises, Buchanan bus station I believe sits behind the tall building extreme right, The brutal St Andrews house office block has replaced the beautiful church in the foreground.
Image

Now,
Image


Brilliant pics John. However, those two above are **not** direct
comparison shots, not even close. The first one - the building you say
sits in front of Buchanan bus station - no. In fact Buchanan bus station
was to the left of that building, although it never existed in that particular
image. That building remained in situ until the mid-1980's.

Parliamentary Road was obliterated after the decimation of the
entire area. Parliamentary Road began at the junction of Sauchiehall St
and Buchanan St (where the concert hall steps are now). Buchanan St
used to continue northwards, but that's another story... Parliamentary
Road ended at the junction with Castle St (where the M8 now crosses
Castle St itself - there used to be a street sign on the M8 retaining wall
up until the mid-1980's...). Parliamentary Road passed over the Queen
St railway tunnel at the same spot as the now-re-aligned Kilermont St
does. The footpath through Townhead is, essentially, Parliamentary Road.

Your second picture is clearly taken from the College of Building & Printing
building, which is further to the south and east of the first picture.


I think you're spot on about the Townhead Church spire, though.








James H
Last edited by james73 on Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
james73
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2035
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:08 pm
Location: urbanglasgow.co.uk - come & join us.....

Postby The_Clincher » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:55 pm

Tip, people...don't tie yersels up in knots( i'm guilty too) looking for Parly road on the older aerial photies....it can be easily worked out with the map i posted (which was a 1970 map) . Deffo the easiest way.
User avatar
The_Clincher
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 521
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 9:18 pm
Location: Planet Rock

Buchannan St Tunnel

Postby johnjoe » Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:10 am

Where on Buchannan Street is the tunnel shown in the thread with the water running through it ?

I have tried to identify where the tunnel is which passes over the Buchannan station tunnel
johnjoe
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:06 am

Re: Buchannan St Tunnel

Postby james73 » Sat Sep 18, 2004 5:13 pm

johnjoe wrote:Where on Buchannan Street is the tunnel shown in the thread with the water running through it ?

I have tried to identify where the tunnel is which passes over the Buchannan station tunnel


It's up at where the M8 passes over it at Port Dundas - it's not on
Buchanan St at all. It's at the area at Dobbies Loan where the fairly
new student flats have been built.

Image




James H
He's over there...
james73
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2035
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:08 pm
Location: urbanglasgow.co.uk - come & join us.....

Re: Buchanan Street Tunnel

Postby james73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:49 am

Pgcc93 wrote:Heres a map showing the tunnel from Buchanan Street Station. It's now been filled in at the Eastern end but note the Air Shaft is that still extant in some shape or form I wonder :?:

Image


I have the Glasgow Photographic Atlas now (got it for a fiver before christmas)
and am looking at page 31 - your image above shows an air shaft and, as
you said earlier in this thread, there's a strange circular area in Sighthill
Park. I'm not sure what it's like, but I'll take a wander up there and have
a look - it's not a nice place to hang around though. :?




James H
james73
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2035
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:08 pm
Location: urbanglasgow.co.uk - come & join us.....

Re: Buchanan Street Tunnel

Postby Pgcc93 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 5:25 pm

james73 wrote:
and am looking at page 31 - your image above shows an air shaft and, as
you said earlier in this thread, there's a strange circular are in Sighthill
Park. I'm not sure what it's like, but I'll take a wander up there and have
a look - it's not a nice place to hang around though. :?

James H


Going by line of sight I reckon this must be it.

A promo shot of the building just after completion.
Image
User avatar
Pgcc93
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 4104
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2003 8:12 pm
Location: Hotel Du Vin

Re: Buchanan Street Tunnel

Postby james73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:16 pm

Pgcc93 wrote:Going by line of sight I reckon this must be it.

A promo shot of the building just after completion.
Image


The area shown in that image (got any more incidentally?) is the same
area I took pictures of, shown on the previous page. Going back to the image
you posted previously, if you match it to any streetmap or the Glasgow
Photographic Atlas, it's clearly *not* the circular staircase(?) structure at Pinkston
Road shown in that promo image.

I recall, years ago, being up at the top of that hill and seeing some sort of
air shaft thing and concluding that it must have been for the Queen St tunnel.
I now know that that's impossible - the two air shafts for the Queen St
tunnel are at the immediate south of Cowcaddens Road (north side of the
Bus Station) and up behind Dales Cycles. Both of these are also highly
visible in the Glasgow Photographic Atlas. I'm sure that at the time I was
in the park and saw the air shaft (late 1980's) it was a solid structure with
a brick surround - it doesn't seem to look like that now, going by the
Glasgow Photographic Atlas, but I'll know more when I take a trip up there.

As an aside, does anyone know precisely where the old Pinkston Power Station
chimney was (the big wide one)? Was it on the canal island?



James H
He's over there...
james73
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2035
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:08 pm
Location: urbanglasgow.co.uk - come & join us.....

Re: Buchanan Street Tunnel

Postby james73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:17 pm

james73 wrote:As an aside, does anyone know precisely where the old Pinkston Power Station
chimney was (the big wide one)? Was it on the canal island?


Yes it was:

http://www.theglasgowstory.com/imageview.php?inum=TGSE00212




James H
He's over there...
james73
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2035
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:08 pm
Location: urbanglasgow.co.uk - come & join us.....

Postby crusty_bint » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:21 pm

cool pic! what are those stratification marks on the power station building itself do you suppose? fancy brickwork maybe, anyone have a colour pic of it?

Crusty
here i go, it's coming for me through the trees
crusty_bint
-
-
 
Posts: 4425
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2004 3:52 pm
Location: Glasgow

Postby AMcD » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:45 pm

There's a photo on SCRAN that looks like it's coloured or painted brickwork. 8O

Could it be war-time camouflage :?:
Allan
User avatar
AMcD
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 684
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:19 am
Location: Kilmarnock

Postby crusty_bint » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:49 pm

Hmm, interesting idea... anyone got access to SCRAN?
here i go, it's coming for me through the trees
crusty_bint
-
-
 
Posts: 4425
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2004 3:52 pm
Location: Glasgow

Postby Pgcc93 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:54 pm

AMcD wrote:
Could it be war-time camouflage :?:


Think you could be right Allan. Best theory yet !

It would have been a massive land mark on the city skyline during WW2.
User avatar
Pgcc93
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 4104
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2003 8:12 pm
Location: Hotel Du Vin

Postby james73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:05 pm

Pgcc93 wrote:
AMcD wrote:
Could it be war-time camouflage :?:


Think you could be right Allan. Best theory yet !

It would have been a massive land mark on the city skyline during WW2.




It is. According to the blurb accompanying the picture on theglasgowstory.com...

An aerial view of Pinkston Power Station on North Canal Bank Street, from the east, 1957. The stretch of the Forth and Clyde Canal from Port Dundas to the sharp bend at Speir's Wharf is in the middle distance.

The brick building was built 1900-1901 to generate electricity for the city's municipal tramways and in 1957 the camouflage paintwork applied during the Second World War is still clearly evident. The cooling tower was the largest in Europe when it was built in 1952-1954.

By 1957 Pinkston was providing electricity for the city's trolley buses, as well as trams, and was contributing 17 million units of electricity to the national grid.


Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums




James H
He's over there...
james73
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2035
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:08 pm
Location: urbanglasgow.co.uk - come & join us.....

PreviousNext

Return to Hidden Glasgow Projects

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 53 guests