St Andrew's-by-the-Green, c 1820. The oldest surviving Episcopal church building in Scotland, it was built in Turnbull Street beside Glasgow Green, 1750-1752, by the wright Thomas Thomson and the masons William Paull and Andrew Hunter. It was popularly known as the "Whistlin' Kirk" because a pipe organ was installed in the building at a time when the playing of musical instruments was not permitted in Presbyterian places of worship.
Because of its location by a low-lying green section of the Green, the two-storey church was often flooded in the years before the park land was levelled and protected from the river. This image is based on one published originally in John Scott's Glasgow Delineated in 1821, and it is an example of the way in which some engravers sought to "improve" on earlier versions of city views.
In 1988, the church building was converted to accommodate offices.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 941.435 GOR
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
church organs, churches, engravers, engravings, Glasgow Delineated, masons, pipe organs, Scottish Episcopal Church, St Andrew's-by-the-Green, Whistlin' Kirk, wrights