Queen Cross Church

The Queen Cross Church, designed by distinguished architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh opened in 1899, with the first service held in 10th September of the same year. It is currently in use as the headquarters of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society. The church is he only church by the architect that has been built. (Smart, 2002) The site being on a corner plot, sandwiched by tenements and a large warehouse is a challenging plot and a simple design is required to reflect the beliefs of the Free Church.

Picture of the Queen’s Cross Church located at Maryhill Road, at the section where it used to be part of the New City Road. (Smart, 2002)

Tower blocks in the 18th century

The poor living conditions in the original village of Maryhill, particularly around the River Kelvin area, had been recognized for some time, but only after 1918 was wide scale action taken to remedy this. In 1926 “garden suburb” type housing was erected by Glasgow Corporation to the north at Gilscochill. The old houses around Whitelaw Street were swept away, replaced by council tenements, similar buildings being erected on the remaining parts of Ruchill and Gairbraid Estates. This resulted in the demolition of Ruchill House and Gairbraid House, leaving only one “grand house”, Garscube. Garscube Estate had been taken over by the University of Glasgow, the Veterinary School being based around the estate farm buildings. Garscube House survived until 1947 when discovery of dry rot led to its demise. (Black, 2019) The award winning 26- storey Wyndford estate now sits on the site of the old Maryhill Barracks. After the 1960 closure of the Barracks the site was chosen for the housing scheme. The former perimeter walls of the barracks and the gatehouse are still preserved up till present. (Smart, 2002) (wikipedia.org ,2019) The buildings in Maryhill today is a mix of the nineteenth and twentieth century tenements which managed to survive the wide scale demolition for the council estates in the 1950s. New houses of better planning now replaces the gaps that appeared when the estates were built. (Smart, 2002)

Picture of Wyndford Estate, location of the old Military Barracks.