By Rachel Kacir, Heritage Outreach Manager

Since March, we’ve all been spending more time in our own neighbourhoods and rediscovering what’s on our doorsteps, with many of us taking to our local parks to exercise, relax and meet friends. With over 90 parks and green spaces in the city, it’s no wonder that Glasgow is known as the ‘dear green place’! 

PARKS AND RECREATION

By the late-1800s, Glasgow was one of the fastest growing cities in the world.  The  people who made up this new community needed employment and homes, but they also needed entertainments to fill their leisure time. Parks were therefore designed with recreation in mind, and often included bandstands and glasshouses for this purpose. In this blog, we’ll celebrate some of these iconic structures, the companies that made them and the groups working to save them. 

MACFARLANE’S & CO.

When it comes to Glasgow’s park architecture, one name dominates: MacFarlane’s & Co. Often known as the Saracen Foundry, after the location of their first premises in Saracen Lane, Gallowgate, Macfarlane’s was the most important manufacturer of ornamental ironwork in Scotland. The company had been founded by Walter MacFarlane (1817-85) and specialised in producing fountains, bandstands and architectural crestings and ornament. The firm mass produced patterns designed by leading Glasgow architects, such as Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, James Sellars and John Burnet. In 1880 MacFarlane’s nephew, Walter MacFarlane II, became a partner and later took over on the death of his Uncle in 1885. After the war, there was a decline in orders for Saracen’s designs. This was due to a number of factors, including the collapse of the British Empire, the move away from steam power and the introduction of new materials. The works eventually closed in 1966 and the infrastructure was demolished in 1967. However, Saracen Foundry pieces can still be found across the world, including in South Africa, Australia, Canada and Brazil.

CELEBRATED WORKS

MacFarlane’s most celebrated work is the Saracen Fountain in Alexandra Park. It was commissioned as their principal exhibit for the International Exhibition at Kelvingrove Park in 1901. They gifted the fountain to the city and it was relocated to Alexandra Park in 1914. The fountain was restored to working order to celebrate the Millennium in 2000. A blue and gold colour scheme matching its original appearance was chosen. Sadly, the fountain has now fallen into disrepair again. However, Friends of Alexandra Park are working to raise funds to restore it once more. 

The Queen’s Park bandstand was also manufactured by MacFarlane’s. It drew large crowds to listen to concerts. It was later moved to Duchess Park, Motherwell, in the 1920s. It was replaced in 1930 by a new bandstand with amphitheatre style seating. The bandstand burned down in 1996, with only the terraces remaining. Now redeveloped, the bandstand is known as Queen’s Park Arena and hosts a variety of events. It’s not the only bandstand to have been given a new lease of life. In 2014 Glasgow City Heritage Trust grant-aided £20,000 as part of a £2.1 million project to restore the Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre. Built in 1924, it is the only original one left in Glasgow and now hosts open air music events.

MacFarlane’s also produced the components of the Kibble Palace, the jewel in Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens crown. Originally built by John Kibble as a conservatory for his home on Loch Long, it was later dismantled and shipped up the Clyde and then the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Gardens. It was initially used as an exhibition and concert venue, before being used for growing plants from the 1880s. Benjamin Disraeli and William Ewart Gladstone were both installed as rectors of the University of Glasgow in the palace, in 1873 and 1879 respectively.

SIMPSON & FARMER

Whilst MacFarlane’s were best known for fountains and bandstands, Simpson & Farmer actually led the way when it came to glasshouses. Describing themselves as ‘Horticultural Builders, Heating and Ventilation Engineers of Patrick Bridge’, they were responsible for the glasshouses, or ‘Winter Gardens’, in Tollcross, Springburn and Queens Parks amongst others.

Tollcross Winter Gardens were originally built in 1870 at Adrossan. They were gifted to Glasgow Corporation in 1898 by Bailie A.G. MacDonald of Redholm, Adrossan, an ex- Convener of the Parks Committee, in commemoration of his association with the East End. They were removed from Ardrossan and re-erected in Tollcross Park by Simpson & Farmer. The Glasshouse was closed in the 1980s and much of the steel framework was lost due to vandalism. It was restored in the late 1990s-early 2000s, but storm damage during the winter of 2010-11 led to it being closed again. Sadly, the Winter Gardens are once again classed as ‘At Risk’ on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. There have been recent reports of plans to restore them once more to create an events and exhibition space and an early years centre adjacent. 

Springburn Winter Gardens were built by Glasgow Corporation as a condition for accepting a £12,000 gift from local benefactor Sir Hugh Reid to finance the construction of the nearby Springburn Public Halls. The Winter Gardens, the largest in Scotland, were much loved for their displays of exotic plants and for the concerts and exhibitions held there. Unfortunately, the Gardens have remained derelict for some time due to major structural problems. Springburn Winter Gardens Trust, a community led organisation, are working to restore them.

Queens Park glasshouse was also sadly closed in 2020 and work began to remove its dome, which was in an unsafe condition. It is hoped the dome can be restored. Friends of Queens Park are working with Glasgow City Council and others to ensure the long term sustainability of the facility. 

DEVELOPMENT GRANTS

Do you have ideas for a Building at Risk and would like some help? Our Development Grants are for finding solutions to challenges affecting Glasgow’s historic buildings or neighbourhoods. They support projects in their early stages, assisting with their development, for example through feasibility studies and options appraisals. Find out more here

This October Glasgow City Heritage Trust celebrates Black History Month (BHM) with a series of  interview blogs. Our second and last interview is with Angela Massafra  and Katie Bruce from GoMA with their project “At Home”.

Whilst in the past Black History Month focused more on the recognition of the many contributions that people of African and Caribbean backgrounds have made to the UK across many generations, nowadays BHM is more inclusive, and commemorates and honours the history and achievements of all the people of colours in the UK.

As a charity that works to promote the understanding, appreciation and conservation of Glasgow’s historic built environment, we are aware of how much of this city’s rich architectural heritage is built on the UK’s imperial past. GCHT understands that we have a role to play in helping to build a better society that is just, diverse and anti racist.

We are working to ensure the projects we support are more representative of Glasgow’s diverse communities, and we are committed to supporting projects from a variety of voices. If you know of any projects which could be eligible for our funding, or if you’d like to discuss ideas with us, or ways in which we could provide a platform, please let us know as we would be delighted to help.

2nd Interview:  Angela Massafra, Learning and Access Curator & Katie Bruce, Producer – Curator, At Home, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)

At Home is a project funded by a GCHT Heritage Grant that will support the “creation of a new series of online talks, artist commissions and workshops that respond to the exhibitions Stones Steeped in History and Domestic Bliss, which explore Glasgow’s relationship with Empire and Slavery, and GoMA’s history as a Tobacco Lord’s house and subsequently the city’s Royal Exchange. A significant part of the grant will be used to digitise our handling box with objects related to the history of the building, continuing to tell the story of GoMA’s built heritage both in the venue and online.”

Katie Bruce, Producer Curator, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)

If you have a project in mind, get in contact! https://www.glasgowheritage.org.uk/grants/

In your application, you mentioned that gallery assistants at GoMA are often asked about the building’s history, what do you think is the public perception of Glasgow’s role in the slave trade?

For a long time, Glasgow’s involvement in the slave trade was perceived as minimal, especially if compared to other major UK centres of Liverpool or Bristol. However, things have been changing in recent years. Glaswegians and people visiting Glasgow are now asking questions about uncomfortable truths related to our city’s past. Many of our visitors are more aware than ever that much of the Merchant City was built on the back of slavery, and that Glasgow’s wealth comes from slave trade, as well as tobacco, sugar, and cotton.

Even before recent events fuelling the Black Lives Matter protests, the public had already started demanding change or acknowledgment of the reminders of Glasgow’s part in slavery, such as street names commemorating tobacco lords and statues of slave traders.

Some of these discussions happened at GoMA itself, sparked either by our exhibitions or learning programmes. Our permanent displays “Stones Steeped in History” and “Domestic Bliss” are both dealing with different aspects of the building’s past as the Tobacco Lord William Cunninghame of Lainshaw’s mansion and his involvement in the export of tobacco grown on plantations which used slave labour. Other conversations are directly facilitated by our learning team, in sessions with our handling box of colonial, slavery and empire-related museum objects, and workshops focusing on the history of the building.

In all these exchanges, the majority of our visitors have shown some awareness of the topic but most of all, they’ve all displayed a clear desire to know more.

How has the current pandemic affected your plans?

The Covid-19 pandemic had a deep effect on several aspects of our organisation. The first is obviously its financial impact. Due to Covid-19, our museums, galleries, cultural venues and libraries closed to the public in March 2020. Through a robust and lengthy recovery planning process, we are now beginning to re-open our venues on a phased basis. However, since March we have not received any income from our venue cafes and shops, special exhibition tickets, or from the donation boxes.

Another aspect radically altered by Covid-19 is our public programme. Our main space, Gallery 1, has been left empty until February 2021, due to the postponement of Glasgow International, Scotland’s biennial festival of contemporary visual art.

Furthermore, with the closure of our buildings, we were obviously forced to suddenly cancel all our face-to-face events and activities, which would have brought hundreds of visitors closer to our building’s history and exhibition.

However, throughout this difficult time, our staff have gone above and beyond to continue engaging with audiences and try different tools of digital delivery. Most of this work has gone into our blog, galleryofmodernart.blog, which we regularly update with new content. Either producing engaging collection-based activities for families to try at home, or recording curators’ talks on video, the last few months have been a testament to our commitment to sharing our history and collections with the public.

What are the main challenges and advantages of the digital delivery of “At home”?

The digital delivery of our programme “At Home” had to face several challenges, especially at the beginning of the lockdown. Glasgow Life is still quite early in its digital evolution and one of the first challenges was the lack of equipment for all our staff working from home.

A still current challenge is the wide variety of content available on the internet, which increased dramatically in the past few months. With so many digital activities, talks, even virtual visits and tours, we need to offer something special and unique to attract the public and make sure to market it effectively. Even when all these conditions are met, people are affected by the pandemic and the response to new digital programmes can sometimes be slow.

However, going digital has some clear advantages. First of all, we now have the ability to bring our programmes to anyone with an internet connection. Our “visitors” can simply check our blog at any point during the day and spend as much or as little time as they want exploring the content that we have curated for them. This has the potential for breaking down geographical, financial, and cultural barriers, enabling us to reach a much wider audience than before.

We have also been able to communicate more frequently and informally, through social media and other digital tools, with other museums and cultural institutions, both in the UK and abroad, receiving and giving feedback on each other’s programmes, cultivating relations that we hope will last even after the pandemic.

Do you think that in some ways the Covid pandemic helped to develop a digital audience for Glasgow’s heritage?

In many ways, yes. People spend much more time at home in front of their digital devices and our data demonstrated that, since March, in some areas, our digital audience has significantly grown, in just a few months, we’ve gained over a thousand Instagram followers.

However, some internal research at Glasgow Museums has also shown the onset of a “digital fatigue” after the first few weeks of lockdown. We all are now trying to strike a balance between looking at screens for work and for leisure. As many other cultural institutions, we are therefore trying to give our audience a good reason to keep looking at the screen even when not working, by offering thought-provoking and original content.

How do you make sure you are creating content that is representative of diverse voices?  Do you have any advice for other organisations that are aiming to do the same?

One of the main things we do to be as representative as possible is to be very open about our gaps in representation itself. Our organisational aim is to inspire people in Glasgow to enhance their wellbeing, create a culture of learning and creativity, and a sense of belonging through our museums and collections. In order to achieve this, we are aware that we must drive and support meaningful change for all the diverse communities living in Glasgow.

From a practical point of view, it is imperative to work with partners and grassroots organisations in the territory. They know communities and their needs much better than us and we need to rely on them to make that change happen. We promote clear communication with our partners and employ approaches of co-curation and co-production in many of our projects, like in the recent queer timɘs school prints exhibition or in the work with our youth group.

We also try and think beyond funding-bound “projects” and, whenever possible, think long-term. We know that achieving full representation will take time and effort and cannot be reduced to a box-ticking exercise.

However, probably the most important advice we could give is to be acutely aware that we all have to do better. All museums and cultural institutions need to make an extra effort to make sure that all previously (and currently) under-represented groups feel welcome in our spaces and able to see themselves in our programmes. Here at GoMA, we don’t shy away from difficult topics and we welcome conversation aimed at improving the representation of diverse voices in our programmes.

Join our speakers database!

GCHT runs a quarterly events programme and we’re always looking for new stories to be told and new folk to tell them. We are also committed to improving access to heritage and  to make heritage relevant to all regardless of background. If you can give a talk relating to Glasgow’s heritage, history, architecture, communities or culture we want to hear from you. Click on this link to join our speakers database: https://www.glasgowheritage.org.uk/speakers/

We are looking for new Trustees!

We are currently recruiting for 3 new Trustees. Applications are sought from enthusiastic and innovative individuals with business expertise at a senior level and a passion for Glasgow’s historic environment. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to having a Board of Directors that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities. We actively encourage BAME and disabled applicants and value the positive impact that difference has on our Board. The closing day to apply is this Friday, 30th October.  Click here for more info and how to apply: https://www.glasgowheritage.org.uk/join-our-board-of-trustees/