The Hidden Glasgow Forums

A project of mine for a while now, i thought it about time i posted some pictures. Abbotsford is the oldest surviving school in the Gorbals. Designed by H&D Barclay, it opened in 1879

A picture from it's heyday circa 1916


And some modern exteriors




Fantastic carved heads. This is David livingstone



And John Knox



Interiors to follow.

JamesMc.

Great pics.

I worked in the Gorbals when it was still open and it was a cracking school inside too. Would love to see the inside of it now.

Some old interior shots. This is a pupil drill, again from around 1916 according to the virtual Mitchell. This pic illustrates that Abbotsford was the first school in Glasgow to have it's classrooms opening off a central hall instead of a corridor system. This subsequently became the template for every school in Glasgow for the next 40 years.(Thanks to Eric Eunson's Illustrated Gorbals history for that fact).



Some more classroom shots, Domestic science





My present day interior shots to follow.

Jamesmc.

Looking forward to the interior shots

Any Ideas what the developers got in store for it now

Ok, so i noticed that the building was being worked on when taking the exterior pics a few months back, so made a plan to come back when i had more time and see if i could find out what was going on from any of the workmen and maybe even get some pics inside. This i managed a few weeks ago, the guys were all really nice, one in particular that i can't remember the name of, but he used to attend the school himself, so he spent ages telling me about it. It is being renovated as a business and IT centre, and is scheduled to be finished by October. I just got there in time to capture the last remaining authentic bits before it is all plasterboarded up. I was able to have a good wander around. Here's a selection of pics;

The first thing to notice is that the big central hall you see in the old photo had a grand staircase put into it at some point, not sure when this happened or how you got to upper level in the past, maybe a hidden back staircase.Looking towards stairs from door.



Closer to the stairs



Stairwell with the brilliant glass roof visible



Bottom of stairs looking up



Bottom of stairs, nice post



At the top of the stairs, ornate bannisters



On the landing looking across the stairwell



Top of stairs, looking down



Old classroom, with fireplace, pink and yellow colours were the last paint job it had as a school



A bit of original wood panelling, must have had something on wall. This was the only room left which hadn't been fully plasterboarded



An upstairs classroom, gives you an idea of the size of the rooms



Some more to follow.....Phew!

JamesMc.

My last batch...a view from the last window which hadn't been boarded up, you can just see the Greek Thomson church



And the playground from the window



Downstairs again, the only bit of original wall left which hadn't been covered, check it against the old pic of the scary kids all lined up



An ornate door, or piece of panelling which was against a wall, looks like it was being saved to be reincorporated or someone was having it for themselves



A poster still up from when the school shut in the early nineties



As is tradition, an abandoned lavvie!



And ending on the glass roof structure. Don't make them like this place any more



When they finish it, i'll try to get along to the opening ceremony and get some more pics. I just hope they manage to maintain some of the character of the place and don't make it bland and unrecognisable, although all of that plasterboard doesn't look too good. At least the building is saved and will hopefully be in use for many more years. The outside is to be fuly restored, even down to the carved heads of Dave and John being fully restored using original pictures. Oh and the pink around the guttering is going too. I'll keep you all posted on further developments.

JamesMc

Great pictures James.

That's quite a staircase!

Nice pictures JamesMc . I was at that location back on the 1st of June
The site manager didn’t mind me taking pictures. The only thing was, I couldn’t go up stairs
’cause of H & S, but he did take me down to the basement.. and I managed to get only one decent picture.

outside


Bike sheds


Gate


Front door


Fossil

Ironwork detail


Arch


Railing inside 1


Railing Inside 2


Fossil

Looking upstairs


The basement


Fossil

Good work guys!!

Now go create a location!

Chris...

Thanks, James and Fossil. Great atmospheric pics.

Thanks chaps
Nice pics Foss, i suppose when you went they hadn't secured the upper floor. I was surprised to be able to wander about freely up there. Nice basement pic. Was it completely dark? There were some rooms i went into which were, i fired off some pics anyway, but they were nothing exciting, just some more plasterboarded walls. Site manager was a nice guy.

Hey guys is there anymore pics of abbotsford inside recently as it has been closed down again?

Serious fire risk here


Abbotsford Primary School Glasgow by guachglw, on Flickr