Bit of a weird one - another "partial memory" just surfaced!

[crusty_bint]

St Vincent lane runs between the south facade of the church and the terracce above habitat giving access to the on-site parking facility for the Pinnacle. The terrace is accessed from a flight of stairs in the lane.

[Fossil]

..your right Dazza.... at the back i seem to remember a walk way the two blue doors at the top left hand side





-fossil-

[stinkpad]

There was a bit of talk about this bit in the letters page of the metro a while back. Apparently a couple were engaging in a bit of public exhibitionism there much to the delight of local office workers.

[duncan]

after a couple trips to check it out, i'm pretty sure there's not some hidden garden up on the St Vincent St. church. the two doors fossil mentions just seem to be large windows. there's no obvious way to get up to there either. There are a couple doors in the back and side, but they just seem to be that - doors. there is also a narrow alley running between it and the building next door (accessible both from the street and the lane), but no way this leads up onto the roof ledge area; it's far too low down. I didn't actually go up the alley, as it seemed to securely shut, but I might have been wrong. unless someone can confirm otherwise and tell me i'm talking pants

[dazza]

There definately used to be something up there "somewhere". I vividly remember the Evening Times mentioning it around 9 years ago, with photos included. It might have been the roof of Habitat, but i think it's been lowered now anyway, so...

[JayKay]

I think what was there was a kind of small open air theatre. No kidding.

It was on the pre-redeveloped Habitat roof.

There was a stepped area at the back, leading up towards the old church, although not across the lane. This is the area that the audience would have sat on, looking down at a flat area at the front that could have been used as a stage.

Access was via a flight of stairs at the side of Habitat.

I dont think it was ever used as intended, but IIRC when the original development was given the go-ahead the developers had to provide a "public space", so this was it. When the area was redeveloped, a public space still had to be made available, hence what we have now on the roof of Habitat.

[crusty_bint]

Arial shot of Heron House and St Vincent St Church (pre-redeveloment)


I found this as well... are these the steps?

[JayKay]

Yup.

memory's a bit hazy mind. When I say it looked like an open-air theatre I dont actually know if that was it's original formal purpose, although I vaguely remember it coming up during a Theatre Studies discussion at uni. It may have been intended as something else but someone that it could serve this purpose. Or it may be that it was intended for this but never ever used.

Outdoor theatre in Glasgow...

[Fossil]

Jaykey I think your on the right..... cant be sure but it does seem right?!

-fossil-

[Reverend Scapegoat]

Open-air theatre... That DEFINITELY rings a bell now you mention it!
Woo! Ta!

[trudger]

a a a

[crusty_bint]

After a lot of searching I found a pic of the "theatre" terrace in Gavin Stamps Thomson book:


on a side note... At a glance Heron House, or the Pinnacle, seems totally out of context beside Thomsons Church, but after doing a couple of measured (well.... estimated) drawings of it i've noticed certain similarities to the geommetry used in the design of the church, as well as a certain Egyptian (another of Thomsons influences) architectural scheme employed in palacial and religous buildings... any architecture students 'up' on thier knowledge of classical architecture know what Im talking about?

Crusty

[Sharon]

Well done crusty...this is the place i was remembering!!

[JayKay]

Well done finding that.

[mooshimooshisan]

Dont know what they are building on top of Habitat but I was up there about 20 years ago and there was nothing resembling a garden, I think there were some built-in concrete 'benches' and some puddles and that was about it. Accessible via a staircase along the street from Habitat. At the back there is a small waist high wall which I almost vaulted until at the last minute I realised I would have ended up doing without the use of my legs for a wee while.

I can confirm that it is very theatre esque up there. Me and my college pals used to head up there with a kerry oot before going to a gig at King Tut's - this was back in 97/98. It is quite a big open space, with concrete built in steps on top of the Habitat building. THere is a small gap between there and the church.

I remember on one memorable occasion going up there and finding the skeletons of several cats and a couple of old broken swivel chairs - that was quite an evening of racing!