1111 to 1113 Gallowgate March 1976
Yate St, west side between Camlachie St and Gallowgate. I was surprised to find (thanks, VM) that this curious little building was Camlachie Police Station. It was built in 1877 to the design of John Carrick, who was Superintendent of Streets 1844-54, Master of Works 1854-62, and finally the very first City Architect 1862-89, and in these positions, particularly the last, had a massive influence over the appearance of Victorian Glasgow. He decreed the regular grid layout of the city centre, and the City Improvement Trust which comprehensively redeveloped the area around Glasgow Cross was largely his project. Most of the minor public buildings of the period - halls, markets, baths, police stations, fire stations etc. - were the work of Carrick and his department. Camlachie nick, with its Venetian campanile, was one of his more eccentric designs. The buildings on the left were part of Camlachie Distillery, set up in 1834. No distilling had been carried out there since the 1920s, but it was still being used as a whisky bond by the Distillers Co. Note the proto-hoody, decades ahead of his time. March 1976
Camlachie St. Curiouser and curiouser - a classical portico stuck on to the back of a police station. Whatever for? Were there a few spare columns lying around in a council yard? The building partly seen across Yate St (sorry I don’t have a proper shot of it) was Camlachie Institute, and in the distance is the retaining wall of the railway line (and part of the bridge carrying it over the Gallowgate) which connected Rutherglen with Springburn via Alexandra Park and Barnhill. March 1976
