Glasgow City Chambers, George Square
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The 30 MinuteGeek Walk Dr Baker’s Geek GuiDe to GlasGow Join me, Dr Nina Baker, for a short guided walk around the city centre and I will open your eyes to the many features within a few metres of George Square that highlight our industrial history. If, just sometimes, you’ve had enough of shopping and art galleries and seek something a bit different, this might be for you. The 30 Minute Glasgow Geek walk is a treasure trove of things to see and do and places to visit that you might not have been aware of in our city. start on the east side of George square, facing the City Chambers. START N.B. see the map on page 11 for an outlay of the route. GlasGow City Chambers, GeorGe square The architect William Young designed our amazing City Chambers, which was opened in 1888. It was built to use electric light from its inception – the first major public building to have this. The impressive electroliers can still be found in the ceremonial rooms and their original hand winches remain in use today. When first built, the City Chambers even included bacteriological and chemical laboratories! Note the engineers and scientists depicted above the entrance to the City Chambers (to the right of the main door) as well as a nod to other engineering trades and occupations above the windows. James Watt is to the left of the group in his characteristic knee breeches. Cross the road to the City Chambers and look at the two metal plaques on the wall to your right (south east). NEXT 1 The 30 MinuteGeek Walk THE STANDARDs oF MEASURE, GeorGe square To ensure fair trading by merchants, shopkeepers, surveyors, architects and builders, strict standards of measurement were prominently provided in public places during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the days before metrication, every child had to learn that three feet makes a yard, 22 yards make a chain, 10 chains make a furlong and eight furlongs make a mile! There are three sets of measurement standards which remain on view in George Square to this day: 1. The standard inch, foot, two-feet and three-feet measurements are mounted on the exterior wall of the City Chambers and can be located on the right hand side of the entrance as you face the building with your back to the Square. 2. There is a standard chain measure, complete with its links in the Square, located at the east side of the north lawn. A small plaque is embedded at the start of the 100 link measure to commemorate the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland’s centenary year (1897-1997). 3. There is a 100-feet measure located at the west side of the north lawn. Following the Treaty of Union with England in 1706, the traditional Scots measurement units of ‘ells, falls and miles’ were legally replaced with the English measurement system, however, they continued in use in some areas of Scotland into the 20th century. • An ell represented 37 inches. • A fall represented six ells, or 222 inches. • A Scots mile represented 320 falls or 1,973 yards. The Royal Mile in Edinburgh is roughly the length of a Scots mile and longer than an English mile (which measured 1,760 yards). Now cross back to the square at the traffic lights. NEXT 2 The 30 MinuteGeek Walk THE STATUE oF THOMAS GRAHAM, GeorGe square This statue is to be found at the south east corner of the square near the war memorial. Dr Thomas Graham (1805–1869) was a brilliant experimental chemist, who pioneered laboratory-based chemical education. He invented the technique of dialysis, so essential in the treatment of kidney illnesses, and formulated a law on gas diffusion. Strathclyde University’s chemical engineering building is named in his honour. Now walk to the north east corner of George square and cross George street walking eastwards. NEXT ELECTRICITY PIONEERS The first places to have electric light were Queen Street and St Enoch stations (latter now demolished) and the head post office (1–7 George Square) which until then had been lit by open gas burners. In 1893, electric street lighting was established in Glasgow. There was a power station in Waterloo Street, and arc lamps lit Sauchiehall Street, Renfield Street, Union Street, Jamaica Street, Argyle Street and Trongate. walk two blocks along George street to the imposing building in red sandstone of the royal College Building. NEXT NOTES 3 The 30 MinuteGeek Walk JaMes watt statue, royal ColleGe BuilDing, UniVersity Of strathClyDe, GeorGe street Go into the entrance lobby (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm only although you can peer through the glass doors) of this building and you will find James Watt on your right, leaning with his elbow on a cylindrical piece of equipment representing his famous invention – the steam condenser. Watt realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and re-heating the cylinder, so he devised the separate condenser. Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water. Now walk back westwards along George street, towards George square. NEXT THE LAND SHIP, STRATHCLYDe uNiVERSITY Here, there used to be a ship on the roof of the Royal College building for training Merchant Navy apprentices in compass and navigation work. The Land Ship had a mock navigation bridge built on the roof of the School of Navigation in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, with a revolving platform with a Kelvin compass mounted on the top. It was used to teach the principles of compass adjustment. It is thought to have operated for most of the first half of the 20th century. walk along George street to west George street, past the entrance to Glasgow queen street station and stop at the corner of Dundas Place. you will want to cross NEXT west George street to see some of what is described next. 4 The 30 MinuteGeek Walk Connal BuilDiNG, 1 Dundas PlaCe and 34 west GeorGe street This building is in Historic Scotland’s Listed Buildings Register 32801 (B listed). Designed by James Thomson in 1900, this is one of the city’s most ornate buildings. You can see a carved train and other industrial products for which the city was famed, carved into the upper floor window pediments, made by the sculptor James Young of Locharbriggs sandstone. The faces of Donaldson, Watt, and Connal, are in roundels left to right at the first floor level on the Dundas Place façade. Similarly in the roundels, left to right, at the first floor level of West George Street façade, there can be seen the faces of a male (perhaps the building’s architect, James Thomson), two females, a male in the classic style and then Neilson, Baird and Dixon. • william Connal 1790–1856. Shipping magnate and a partner in the Cunard Line. • James Baird 1802–1876. Director of the Caledonian Railway Company and the Forth and Clyde Canal. • James Donaldson (10 December 1751 – 16 December 1830) was a Scottish printer and newspaper publisher, founded Donaldson’s Hospital, the school for deaf children in Edinburgh. • James Beaumont Neilson 1792–1865. Innovator in early town gas lighting and inventor of the hot blast method of smelting iron. • william Dixon 1788–1859. Ironfounder, colliery and railway owner. • It’s also worth going inside to admire the wall tiles and the ancient electrical equipment by alexander lindsay of 173 Bath Street, up the first flight of stairs. Continue along west George street and follow round to the north side of the church in the middle of Nelson Mandela Place, stopping to look up at the building in the NEXT corner on your right. 5 The 30 MinuteGeek Walk JaMes watt statue, atheNaeuM BuilDing, NelsoN Mandela PlaCe On the façade of the Athenaeum building there are two seated figures on either side above the entrance. The left hand one is James Watt holding a governor (the object with two balls) and presumably giving technical instruction to a youth. James Watt designed his first governor (which regulates machine speed) in 1788 following a suggestion from his business partner Matthew Boulton. Continue around Nelson Mandela place to the southern side and again look up at the pale grey building above the shops on your right. NEXT BuilDing, EngiNeering and MiNing ImaGes, stoCk exChange BuilDing, NelsoN Mandela PlaCe The Stock Exchange building was erected between 1875 and 1877, designed by John Burnet. The roundels depict the various industries with which the Stock Exchange dealt. Follow round to your right and walk down Buchanan street, crossing st Vincent Place until you reach the junction with Gordon street. look at the large shop on your left NEXT that faces towards Gordon street. NOTES 6 The 30 MinuteGeek Walk sewing MaChiNes, allsaiNts, 98 BuChaNaN street AllSaints, fashion retailer, has some 400 old sewing machines in the window and even more inside, including cast iron tables and showcasing stock, continuing this “industrial theme”. In the 19th century, the Singer Sewing Machine retail shop was just along the street at 65 Buchanan Street. The Singer Corporation also had the largest clock face in the world, at its Clydebank factory which opened in 1885 and closed in 1980. Singer railway station, built to serve the factory, is still in existence to this day. Now turn down the pedestrianised part of Gordon street and look at the bank building on your right. NEXT CoiN and Notes Makers, royal BaNk oF Scotland BuilDing, GorDoN street The finest feature of this classic solid grey sandstone bank building is the quality of the stone- carving, by Alexander Handyside Ritchie (1804–1870).