The history of Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street stretches all the way back to the 18th century - we wanted to explore the story of the city centre street today
Sauchiehall Street - every Glaswegian will have fond memories of being dragged along the thoroughfare with their granny as a child, or of later messy nights out as an adolescent, the street holds a special place in our hearts.
The crown of Glasgow City Council’s ‘golden Z’ - the street has saw some major albeit steady decline in the last few decades - but what can we attribute this to? Just how far has Sauchiehall Street fallen? How great was it in the first place?
These are the questions we want to answer today in this article, from the inception of the street in 1810’s right up until the modern era of 2023 - and even looking forward to the future of the street with current plans.
Here’s the 200-year-old history of Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street in 15 pictures.
These are the questions we want to answer today in this article, from the inception of the street in 1810’s right up until the modern era of 2023 - and even looking forward to the future of the street with current plans.
5. Mackintosh at The Willow
First opened by Miss Cranston and designed by Mackintosh in 1903, the original Willow Tea Rooms building can be found at 215-217 Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. The name ‘Willow’ refers to the street name as ‘Saugh’ (from Sauchiehall) is Gaelic for ‘Willow Tree’. You can think of these early tearooms as similar to the bohemian coffee shops of Paris in the Victorian era, although with a more up-market, and much less cool, clientele.
6. Glasgow School of Art (Special Mention)
The Glasgow School of Art was designed by Mackintosh and built between 1899 and 1909. The construction of the institution brought a whole new cast of characters to Sauchiehall Street - the bohemian art students mingled alongside the poor workers in the tenements, and the rich merchants in their villas creating a multi-cultural cross-section of Glasgow - which is true even today. The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society described the art school as the architect’s “masterwork”. Sadly, following two fires at the Glasgow School of Art, the world-renowned Mackintosh building was badly damaged. In 2023, the Guardian reported that a rebuild was in the works and the “Mackintosh building will fully reopen as a graduate school in 2030”. Photo: wojtekgurak on Flickr
7. Glasgow’s first skyscraper
Sauchiehall Street had become internationally renowned for its nightlife and cultural scene - so it only made sense for the Glasgow corporation to place Glasgow’s first ever skyscraper on the city centre street in 1938. The Beresford Building has worn many different hats, hosting American GI’s and even JFK as a hotel during the second world war, before hosting the emerging middle class of Glasgow as an office admin workers, going on to host wild parties when it became student accommodation for the University of Strathclyde. It is currently still in use as private accomodation.
8. Christmas 1963: Sauchiehall Street
In the 60’s, Sauchiehall Street was in full-swing - with less theatres, and much more dancing halls. It was the place to be in Glasgow, and if you were going into town on Christmas? Sauchiehall Street was definitely your first stop. An amateur film enthusiast captured the following scenes from his car while travelling down Sauchiehall Street.
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