The University of Glasgow's Gilbert Scott Building, as seen from Kelvingrove Park in June 1950.
By the 1840s the disadvantages of the University's buildings on the High Street led most of its professors to agree that a move to new buildings was essential. The old buildings were too small and decaying, and lecture rooms inadequate. Rebuilding on the existing site was not attractive due to the overcrowded streets and increasing industrial pollution in the area. The Molendinar Burn, which flowed past the University, had become a stinking, enclosed sewer.
An ideal solution was to move to the more pleasant and respectable West End of the city. In 1863 the Glasgow Union Railway Co bought the Old College site for £100,000 to redevelop as a goods yard. This enabled the University to purchase more than 43 acres at Gilmorehill for £65,000. Building work began on the new University buildings in 1866.
Reference: Glasgow University Archive Services, PHU1/58
University of Glasgow
Keywords:
Gilbert Scott Building, Glasgow Union Railway Co, Kelvingrove Park, parks, spires, towers, University of Glasgow
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