Timchilli wrote:"Conservators at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum are working on an 18th Century portrait
to uncover a black servant who was painted out." [
Full story].
Got me wondering, whatever happened to Shawfield Mansion (built 1712) below?
Where exactly did it stand and when was it pulled down?
Cheers
Tim
From "The Second City" by C.A. Oakley
John Glassford literally had his picture turned to the wall. The Victorians never reproduced his portraits, and an attempt a few years ago to obtain any kind of likeness of John Glassford was about to fail when an early portrait was found. His wrongdoing was that of dying in financial difficulties. He was worth no more than eight shillings in the pound, and his family, in the endeavors to effect an improvement, made things so much worse that his affairs were in part never cleared up.
The merchants began to acquire ground, between High Street and what is now Union Street, for their town mansions and gardens. When Glasgow spread west along Argyle Street, new streets had to be built through these gardens, and the merchants-or their heirs-came out of the sale of their property extremely well. Many of the streets bear the names of these men of the eighteenth century, and while some, for instance, Cochran Street and Ingram Street, were so called because of the high regard in which the men were held, others, such as Glassford Street, were named simply after the owners of the grounds through which they were laid out.
-----------------
I think the building was at the junction of the now Glassford Street and Trongate probably over the road facing Stockwell Street. The house was demolished in 1792.
You can see a reproduction of the painting in the People's Palace.
John