The Forgotten Part of Old Glasgow
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2023
- Glasgow feels like a Victorian city. There's a lot of buildings and architecture in the city centre that are mid-to-late nineteenth century, and for visitors the city looks and feels Victorian.
Glasgow doesn't have the medieval charm of Edinburgh's Old Town, or the quaint Georgian character of Edinburgh's New Town. Glasgow is Victorian, and that's just the way it is.
Hidden away, right in the city centre on the south side of the River Clyde, is a Georgian street of some considerable importance. It's not the only Georgian street in Glasgow. As Glasgow grew from its medieval centre and spread west, Georgian stuff happened: St. Vincent Street, West George Street, West Regent Street, Bath Street and Blythswood Square. Georgian streets still survive in Glasgow, although not always in their entirety.
But Carlton Place is different.
Carlton Place was built in the early Georgian period. It was designed to be an upmarket area of Laurieston, once part of the Gorbals, with gates at each end of Carlton Place to keep the riff-raff out. But it was too close to Glasgow's East End and many industries with tall chimneys and smells.
And so the middle classes moved out of Carlton Place, and industry moved in. But over time businesses themselves moved out, and Carlton Place became almost abandoned.
And yet, behind one of the doors of Carlton Place - Laurieston House - lies an architectural interior that would rival any Royal Palace. It is an interior of such grandness that is said to feature the finest Georgian interior in the whole country.
And the question is, why is that whole street, and especially Laurieston House, now partially derelict and in great danger of being lost forever?
As a young kid from the Gorbals, Carlton Place seemed very grand, I never expected to see inside. Glasgow always seems to be in decline somewhere and rejuvenation in an other. One can only hope these buildings will not be lost completely.
I've got a friend from Leeds who always says, Glasgow will be great when they finish it
Still true to this day but central regeneration has pushed it a few hundred metres outwards in the last decades
All that work done by Masters of their craft in decay or gone. A shame. Historical renovations have been a major part of my adult life and the trades people that can restore such buildings like myself are getting old, old or dead. ( I'm still kicking ). It is truly sad.
Darkly wonderful video Ed.
Hi Ed
So sad to witness this decline, we have so many historically important buildings in Glasgow going to waste,
This would not be allowed to happen anywhere else that had a sense of civic pride.
Once these buildings are gone they will be lost forever.
I was born in 1957 in the East end ,and we have lost so much of Glasgow in my lifetime.
Keep up the good work Ed I really appreciate your videos
Thanks John. One of those buildings that we simply HAVE to save.
Stunning interiors! It's a crying shame to let these buildings rot like this.
Absolutely.
The problem is we have very strict conservation laws it adds on alot of cost. This is why we lose alot of buildings. And why so many castles are in ruins. There needs to be a more realistic approach
laws that allow this building to be falling apart and not even secure from someone entering and starting a fire. hardly strictly laws then are they? although i know what you are getting at@@John-ol4eo
Yeah, these days conservation and listed buildings status is a recipe for "leave it until it falls down", then it can be demolished and redeveloped.......
I've recently retired and will be looking to keep myself occupied. I'll happily give of my time to help in the preservation of these beautiful, unique buildings. If anyone would like to get this thing started, and is looking for volunteers, please contact me by responding to this post. Either that or we can stand in the wings while these treasures are slowly lost.
Standing in the wings just watching the loss of our heritage is par for the course, unfortunately. Folk always expect someone else to do things. Well done, and good luck.
I’d like to know this also, I’d be happy to do my part too. I’ll have a look around on Google and see if there’s anything out there and if there is I’ll get back to you right here.
@@np8280 Cheers, friend.
Great to have a wee look inside, amazing! Cheers Ed.
I discovered your vlogs recently Ed, great stuff. I was born in a tenement in Maryhill in 1952, and moved out about 1961 when the bulldozers moved in, funnily enough to Johnstone where the Black Bull Inn from your Old photos of pubs was still there.I haven't lived there or in fact in Scotland for many many years but love that nostalgic feeling when watching your vlogs, thank you.
Many thanks Hugh.
I came from the same background in Glasgow in the Sixties and seventies from the Gorbals, Florence Street until 1968, we always thought that the People who stayed in the Red Sandstone building's where toffs 😂😂😂😂 I left the Gorbals in 1985 and bought a house in Crookston, but I'll always be a Gorbals Guy. 👍🇬🇧💙😎
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I worked for a building preservation contractor as a rot and damp eradication sub-contractor to the main contractor (it might have been Gilbert Ash Ltd) on those buildings around 1983/84. Part of that terrace was renovated and converted into 'The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice' and was opened by them when work was completed. I knew at the time it was a Georgian terrace but you've provided more meat on the bones of its history. Such a shame to see the rot and damp seems to be getting a grip again.
Ive always liked Carlton Place, with its architecture and wide pavement and now seeing how beautiful the interiors are makes hope that they are all saved and preserved.
Great research Ed -thanks very much for highlighting the history and showing us whats happening here.
Thanks for sharing, very enjoyable watch.
Thanks for this Ed, most excellent
An excellent video thanks Ed. Certainly an interesting chapter in Glasgows history. I really hope the restoration work continues. Amazing photographs of such an ornate interior.
Sad to see, but so important to shine a spotlight on Ed, thanks!. Fingers crossed this building and it's decadent interior is recued and restored
This is amazing. This is who we were. We must look after this piece of magic. That's what it is. Magic.
Another hidden gem. Thanks for sharing this.
Abandoned but not forgotten So many memories that float from room to room. Thanks so much Ed for sharing this wonderful video and showing the beauty of the past.
Lynn in Naples FL
“Because who but I changes the water for all the memories?
Who inserts the present like a slash into the dreams of the past?
Who switches my ancient lamps for new ones?
My most beautiful hiding places are solitary sites where no one goes,
and where there are shadows that only come to life when I am the magician.”
From the poem
“Ballad of Forgotten Places, by Argentine poet Olga Orozco.”
Lovely verse. Thank you.
Hi Ed. Just discovered your work. Brilliant.
Cheers Ian.
Hi Eddie, I hope that they either have or are taking molds for future templates for the ornate plaster work before its lost forever, another great video cheers
Fantastic Video! I enjoyed learning about where Merchants of Glasgow were. My 4th great-grandfather John Cowan was a Coal Merchant and I still havent found any leads of where exactly he stayed. Its really a shame to see the amazing Architecture to fall into disrepair as when you see the sculptures and also the designs on the ceiling, it took dedication into the work our fantastic architects and ancestors done 😀, I enjoyed seeing the pictures and I hope Laurieston House is renovated soon so I can go and visit and see the wonderful design!
Unbelievable, but given modern building in Glasgow, very believable. We demolished a beautiful building in St Enoch Square to replace it with an architectural nonentity. Soon, too, this will be replaced with yet another edifice in glass, of equally uninspiring architecture, but smooth enough for these graffiti villains with spray paint. Ed,, the sorrow in your commentary, the astonishment in the short-sightedness, and the depiction of what is to be lost - imagine the tumult if this was in Edinburgh - is both artisitic and achingly sad.
Thanks Lisa. I wholeheartedly agree about St Enoch Square.
Absolutely.........
Worked at the hotel in the last four years before it was closed down and even met my wife there!
Stunning inside. Thanks for sharing. I was almost going to have a rant about the lack of affordable housing when these are lying empty. Knock them down etc. But they really should be brought back and maintained.
Absolutely. There are so many buildings that form the very fabric of Glasgow either empty or with just shops at ground level, and they just sit for years and at times decades until bits fall off then they get demolished. Why, I often wonder, can city councils not work with owners and developers to create housing in these properties? Or maybe I've just got a simplistic unmanageable view of things, which wouldn't surprise me.
Incredible video
Incredible interior.
I worked as a security guard in Lauriston House in the late 70s and the 1st floor was like the drawing room in "Upstairs Downstairs ".
What a beautiful building and interior, even in its' current state. As you say, this could be a major attraction for visitors , and also very much so for Glaswegians.
The whole street looks worse every day.
Excellent work ,i live right there and didn't know
I grew up, just around the corner, in Oxford Street. I can’t remember who owned the building at the time, but my mother took me in to show me the plasterwork that she described as “Wedgewood blue” . It was glorious.
Yes, Wedgwood Blue is a good description.
There was a recording studio inside one of those buildings around 25 years ago that I used with a band I was in.
Very sad to see such a grand looking place fall into ruins.
There may still be. There's a cafe beside Laurieston House. It's still open, and inside are rehearsal rooms. May even be recording facilities, I'm not sure.
There was an office in the same building where the pop band 911 had their management.
Always Lassie’s hanging around outside so when we came out they’d all get excited until they realised we weren’t them & their wee faces dropped!!
Had a couple of jams in there also there was the TUC club that used hold functions.
I used it too! Wee place, but good backline.
And the "Dial Inn" restaurant too!@@thomassummerhill6357
My Gran was in a hospice in this street in 2016, even that has now gone by the looks of it
Lovely film. I sold Volvos to folk with addresses in Carlton place, back in the nineties.
Cheers Simon.
Thanks Ed.
Such a shame. As you say, buildings need to be used otherwise they fall into decay very quickly. I'm sure if these buildings had been in Edinburgh (or London for that matter), work would have been done to ssve them for the nation. It won't be long before they are too far gone.
The interior is absolutely stunning. I really hope someone saves it.
When I first saw those photos they blew me away. What an interior!
Never been to carlton pl for years used to cross the suspension bridge daily when I worked in the city centre to my house in the gorbals last time about 2005 I live in another part of scotland now but last week picked my granddaughter up at carton pl I was shocked at its demise glasgow council your a disgrace letting these building rot thank you ed
Thank you. Yes, the street is not getting any better. Sorry state of affairs.
thank you. apart from what remains of Home House here in London, there will be few interiors so grand in a town house remaining.
Every time I look at those interior shots I do so with open-mouthed wonder.
Interesting place Carlton Place know it well.
I'm gobsmacked I'm from Edinburgh and it looks like Charlotte square in Edinburgh
I was in Laurieston House in the mid 80's to take photos for GM, at that time I think it had already been empty and boarded up for years!!
This is a building that we cannot lose.
Sad to see such a magnificent building being left to rot :-(
About 20 years ago we got a peek into lauriston house during Glasgow doors open day. not too far due to condition, was very sad. It's even more sad to see how little seems to have been done, but it was magnificent, lovely stair and skylight
And the longer it sits unoccupied the more it will deteriorate.
Sadly according to Google maps 2024, nothing has changed except the tree growing out of the building is getting bigger.
Ironic that Glasgow Corporation used it in the past but let it go.........
Anyone remember Wisons Zoological Gardens in Carlton Place? Further along towards Eglinton Street and the bank on the corner. I was brought up a few blocks south of Carlton Place, in Peebles Street. My mother would take me to see the animals in Wilsons. You could buy tropical fish and pet supplies. Dunno if the young lion (really!) was for sale or just for show.
Hi Ed, great storytelling.....just ease down the music levels
So, who owns carlton house and the street area?
I bet the people of Glasgow would rather their taxes went on a project like this which would bring in more tourists which would help the local economy rather than councils wasting taxpayers cash on unwanted ULEZ. Thanks great video.
Thanks Janice.
There was a club over there. I don't remember what it was called. DJ Marc Smith did his first gigs in town there, to a largely ICF crowd if I remember correctly.
A two hundred year old building which has multiple uses and has been neglected for at least one hundred years is a daunting prospect. A competition should be organized to find a team who can suggest new uses
Would never happen down south shame on Glasgow councils over the years it’s criminal.
Its sad to see the state of that once important building. I wonder if it will be restored. On a lighter note its great to see the old maps and paintings showing the washing greens on the banks of the Clyde. Very interesting video as always.👍
Yes, no washing machines, at least for the working classes, way back then, although I'm not sure how clean the river water would have been.
I'm assuming that women had to pay to use the wash houses ? Naturally those with little in the way of income would use the free alternative.
You're thinking of "The Steamie" where you paid to use the boilers and driers, mum used to drag us along to the one at Parkhead but we would manage to escape to the library next door!
There were also wash houses in the tenement back courts where you each had your own turn to use the boiler to heat water and do the laundry.......
How dare the riff raff not respect the grandeur of those buildings and stay away. Fantastic detailed video Ed, but, as you say maybe it was just too near industry, I used to run into a distillery on the other side of the river with the grain from meadow side. It would certainly be a travesty to let all internal ornate decoration go to waste.
Sometimes you just don't know what's behind a door. Stunning interior.
what a crime the worry about bike lanes and lez but let all this history and class rot gdc should be ashamed thanks ed brillant video
Thanks Margaret.
It makes you wonder what bodies may be buried in the basements that they want to let these gorgeously crafted buildings deteriorate, or go up in flames, so that they can get down to the foundations and rebuild.
They don't care all they care about is keeping up with the globalist agenda with all the climate change rhetoric and con
wow the interior, the council should be shown this, absolutely ridiculous to have this empty. we need a millionaire to come along spend a few million this could be a hotel with all its glory
So sad to see such wonderful architecture left to rot. Seems a common trend though, Britain is in a perpetual state of self loathing of its past, more so in England.
Very interesting and informative footage in your videos, much appreciated.
Thank you.
I’d heard the story of how this was built before. My dad used to tell me about the stories of all the buildings we’d pass on walks, he’d point out weird architectural features that I would never have noticed and made me really appreciate buildings I would pass all the time in a different way.
Carlton place was always one of my favourites, it always felt so grand and majestic in contrast with modernist and brutalist style flats in the gorbals. My heart breaks that we let these beautiful things rot whilst building nothing of equal beauty for future generations to get to enjoy.
God is my witness, If I ever come into mega money I’m starting a trust to save these crumbling, unappreciated buildings at no expense spared before any more “unexplained” fires happen and next thing you know there some ugly student flats, or a chain hotel.
I somehow can’t edit my comment on the version of RUclips that’s on this device I’m temporarily using, but I forgot to say I really enjoyed your video. It felt like one of those walks with my dad as a kid lol.
Thank you. It's a stunning building whose interior would rival any royal palace.
Thanks for this. Do you know anything of the history of Newton Place?
I'm afraid not. But it looks like a row with a good bit of age to it.
Great film. Here in Italy, where I’ve lived for the last 35 years, this sad story is all too common. Always a question of massive amounts of money, and then, what will its final destination be?
Thank you. It's a sad tale that is indeed all too common.
The very first thing any serious restoration would do, would be to make the buildings weathertight.
It looks more likely that a developer is waiting for the buildings to be declared dangerous so that they can circumvent any listed status and clear the site.
I salute you for highlighting this. So sad to see these beautiful buildings rot before our eyes. I think they are a victim of where they are, as they were in times past. Commercially they are too far from the city centre ( in terms of hotels etc) and the same for residential use, outside the desired centre. It strikes me that the people who care about beauty in buildings seem never to have the money, yet those with money don’t have an appreciation of beauty. They consider buildings as mere commodities that are there to create more income. This has contributed to the housing crisis and the general destruction of fine old beautiful buildings. They are replaced with blocky mediocrity with a lifespan of 20-30 years - one small mercy in this. Glasgow is sadly being transformed in a city of the bland. Just like everywhere else that developers get their grubby hands on. Wake up Glasgow. Keep up the good work Ed - really enjoy your videos! 👍🏻
Thanks Martin.
So my city has a old side like that wow
Brilliant video ed a shame to see a building like this fall into disrepair has the work come to a stop ?
Many thanks. I'm not sure. Clearly from Historic Environment's photos there is renovation taking place. I just don't know if it has ground to a halt or not. I suspect the former.
Further along that side of tbe river is an old ornate victorian water fountain, near the partial collapsed part of the walk way, is behind a metal mesh barrier, i guess its cheaper to hide things, rather than fix them
I'll need to have a look at that. Not sure if I've ever seen it. Thanks.
@@EdExploresScotland i have a yt community post about the drinking fountain
Another interesting video. Read it's to become upmarket fully furnished letting flats and to be restored sympathetically. Shame it's not for public use but better flats than further decline.
not been on that street in a very long time lol , used to park there for dinner before heading into the centre for next days orders. never gave it a thought as to what they looked like inside. restorers probably ran out of money :(
I suspect money's a big factor here. But my goodness we can't let this interior go.
@@EdExploresScotland true and this is where Heritage Scotland (if they still exist) should step in
The interiors reminiscent of a piece of Wedgwood.
It certainly is.
I regularly attend band practice at the Carlton Studios on this very street and had literally no idea how much history actually lies there, pardon my ignorance. What beautiful buildings that don’t get to see light of day inside :(
Hi Steven. I didn't know either until looking into it. Stunning interior.
Ed thanks for making the effort to highlight this disgraceful neglect.....this would not happen in a city such as Bath or even Edinburgh's new town ,there's seems to be no inbuilt sense of PRIDE by the Troughers in charge of Glasgow , a terrible state of affairs...they don't recognise or are blissfully/wilfully ignorant of the damage done by they're lazy inaction....the only way these building can survive is by a private developer/s with deep pockets who may retain the best of the bunch ....restore the facades of the rest ,and built apartment or " Boutique" commercial behind such ...one would hope that will come about before it too late !!....thank you for highlighting this .
Thanks Neil.
If I was a millionaire I would turn it into a tearooms a bit like the willow Tea rooms except with a more Georgian flair and maybe partly an art gallery
14 clyde Street at the start?
Do you know anyhing about queens crescent? G4
'Fraid not.
over 72 chimneys on a row of houses !!!!!!
And all very neat. Perhaps they had fireplaces in the bathrooms too!
Thanks Ed …this should be one of Glasgows finest areas…set on the riverside….why do we seem to neglect our finest assets.
Absolutely. I'm currently working on a video about Edinburgh's old breweries, and it truly is astonishing the difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh. In Edinburgh they have managed to retain many of their old brewery buildings, some going back to the 18th century, and repurposed them for housing and other uses. Here in Glasgow, we just neglect our stone-built heritage, then after a while demolish it.
crazy in this day and age, there is also the first iron bridge built in Scotland that has been abandoned by historic Scotland and is just being allowed to fall apart, you have to wonder whos making the decisions with these buildings? maybe time to get some thing worked out and rase funds to get these buildings fixed up and open to the public.
Thanks Stuart. Which iron bridge is it?
So why can't these buildings be turned into a 5 / 6 star hotel? Instead of the flat-sided featureless things that are being built today. The GDC could put a rate discount for any group prepared to renovate these buildings.
My thoughts exactly.
There was a time when Glasgow was known as the second city of The Empire. This building is just another example of the continuing decline of a once great city.
Well done Glasgow.
If this is left to decline further, it would be a tragedy.
Absolutely.
Sad state to see those buildings in. I'm guessing either money, or lack of, is a driving factor.
One little thing, your videos aren't the same without "Hullo there".
Yes, I seem to have missed that welcome out. Even forgot to verbally log out. Sigh. Probably focusing more on the subject than myself.
The council need to get thier finger out and and compusorly purchase these
Not the Gorbals
Glasgow is certainly demolition city. I think only Coatbridge could beat it in that department.
Yes, much of the south side of the Main Street in Coatbridge has been removed and replaced with the ubiquitous concrete and a very bleak, depressing shopping centre.
Very good, but one swallow does not make a summer.
This is surprising and heartbreaking, as real estate is worth so much these days. This should not be a visitor attraction, but again what it was always intended to be - upmarket housing. Plenty of people would pay a mint to buy or rent there once it's restored.
It's quite close to The Gorbals, an area that has been modernised, or flattened, whichever way you want to look at it. It's also close to a quite astonishing amalgam of the old and new at Tradeston. So absolutely no reason why it couldn't return to upmarket housing.
It would look a lot more Victorian if the City Council hadn't demolished most of it in the 1960s and '70s in order to try to ensure that the Labour party's hegemony would be sustained indefinitely ( failure) to make way for disgusting precast concrete monstrosities and motorways, thus making it not only desirable but easy to get out of. So that worked, didn't it?
Nahh.......
Most of Anderston cross housing and buildings were in pretty poor conditions when the M8 started taking shape in 1967 but Charing Cross was criminal destruction.
While Glasgow city council continues to allow ugly development to occur throughout the city.
Many thanks for your comment. I know exactly what you're saying, but I think we should all turn our heads towards the rather stunning new development at Tradeston.
The problem is,very few if any of the younger generation give a damn . They care about mobile phones and the other “tech” that will eventually be the ruin of them. I visit Glasgow from Yorkshire regularly and am saddened by how many fine buildings are going to pot,while awful tower blocks are being thrown up everywhere. They have no character or appeal,and in a very few years will look tired out. Once again quick profit rules the day .
Posh part
Show too much interest and it's bound to "go on fire". It is Glasgow, after all.
Brilliant love it new sub history time gone bi 🧭