Charlotte's Web Log...

It was wet today. Very wet.
Kind of rain that gets Noah thinking "We're going to need a bigger boat"
So decided to just stick close to the city centre and cut down a street I'm very familiar with. Queen Street. And also took a wee tour (detour?) round Royal Exhange Square on the way.
Nothing new to learn about Queen Street ? There are a few things.
For a start I've never questioned why it called Queen Street before. Named after a queen obviously. But do you know which one? I didn't.

Time to consult "Glasgow Street Names" by Carol Foreman again. Did I mention this is a fab book?

Well it seems Queen Street was just a common roadway called Cow Loan as it was used to drive cattle up to Cowcaddens. (Remember Ingram Street was Back Cow Loan?)
It was along Cow Loan that Cromwell entered Glasgow in 1650.
It was formed up as an actual street in 1777. The owner of this land at the time was a Mr. McColl who had a mansion on what is now the corner with Argyle Street (where Next is today) Mr. McColl was seemingly a bit of a royalist. At this time George III was on the throne and his queen was Queen Charlotte.
That's who it is named after.
If you look at number 78 Queen Street you will see that it is actually called Charlotte House. So now I know.




Thought best place to start would be in Queen Street station.
This station dates back to 1842 when it was built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway.


I've posted up a few photos of the distinctive arched roof of this station. Like Central station I find these roofs amazing pieces of engineering. And this one must be instantly recognisable because everyone got it right in the quiz!!

Oh!! And Starbucks opened here today. Another one to chalk up if you are trying to do every Starbucks in Glasgow!!

Down into Queen Street proper. And the northern end of this street is very much dominated by the buildings of Royal Exhange Square. And in particular the Gallery of Modern Art.

This is another iconic building in Glasgow and I've featured it a number of times in this blog already.

Although mainly because it has the statue of Arthur (Art for short? :)) and Copenhagen with the cone on his head outside. But didn't know much about it other than that.

This building was actually built as a mansion house for John Cunninghnam, you guessed it, a wealthy tobacco lord, in 1778. It was bought in 1817 by the Royal Bank of Scotland. They then moved to Buchanan Street in 1827 and it became the Royal Exchange. The Exchange served as a meeting place where merchants and other businessmen gathered to deal in commodities such as coal, iron and sugar and in services such as shipping and insurance. It was at this time that the columns at the front and the hall at the rear were added.

The city's first telephone exchange was then located here in 1880.

Glasgow Corporation acquired the Royal Exchange in 1949 and five years later Stirling's Library was relocated there from Miller Street. When Stirling Library returned to Miller Street the building was converted to house the Gallery of Modern Art which opened in 1996.

That a lot of history for one building.

It really is a fantastic looking building, especially the distinctive tower. Here is a view from within a rain soaked Royal Exchange Square. You can see the join between the original mansion building and the new hall added later with the arched windows and columns.

This is the view up throught the balconies within the building capped with a beautiful glass roof.

And here is the roof detail within the "new" hall at the rear. The huge arched windows let so much natural light flood in. An amazing place to exibit art.

So why no photos of the art? Well you aren't allowed to take photos of the exhibits in the main hall as they are not all owned by the museum.

So what are they like ?

Well modern art is a bit of a hit and miss thing for me. I can see the craft in what is being done but doesn't always make me feel the emotion that more traditional art does. Saying that, there are some stunning and very thought provoking pieces in here. Some even just with colours and shapes that do really touch your emotions. If you are in the area just pop in. It's free. Art is a very personal thing, so see for yourself. Then post up a comment here.

This is something I was allowed to take a photo of and made me laugh. A cool Glasgow t-shirt in the shape of the famous Tunnock's Caramel Wafer!! Classic!! :)

As I came out of the Gallery through the colums the black clouds where gathering behind Arthur and Copenhagen. The really heavy rain was still to come. Did I catch a couple of pigeons flying past in this photo or are they storm crows ?

Now out in Royal Exchange Square. This really is one of the coolest places in Glasgow now. I love it at Christmas when they hang fairy lights like a roof of stars across the entire square. The shops, the restaurants and cafes. Very nice indeed. Here is a view of the rear of Borders which I covered in the Buchanan Street post. Top 5 bookshop in the world you know!!

And here is a good view of the archways that were built in the 1830's over Royal Bank Place and Exhange Place which connect through onto Buchanan Street.

Interesting thing was when at the Museum of Transport on Friday they were showing a film of the Queen opening Princes Square in 1988. And she came through one of these arches and into her car sitting in Royal Exhange Square. I had forgotten that this square still had a road that ran around it until relatively recently. Can anyone remember when this road was removed ?

Can't leave the Square without pointing out that this used to be Babaza. This used to be my club of choice in my younger days :)

Now down onto Queen Street again. And the most impressive building here is the Guildhall building at number 45. It is actually huge when you stand back and look at it. It was built as a warehouse between 1899 and 1903 for Hunter Barr. It was converted into offices in 1986 around a central atrium with a glass roof. Worth popping in through the original mahogany and marble entrance to see the contrasting light, modern building inside.

The ground floor of the Guildhall building houses a number of interesting shops including Cult clothing which sells a lot of Superdry branded clothes. Did actually chuckle as I stood there with the rain bouncing off the hood of my jacket that no one in Glasgow would have come up with that as a brand name :)

Now began to remember what I remember about Queen Street. This was pretty much my old drinking haunt. A sort of Ashton Lane for us Northeners. :)

Had a few good nights in Bar Strata.

And went looking for the Skeletons with hard hats that used to climb up the building outside Archaos nightclub. They are all gone except this wee guy still clinging on after all those years!!

The Da Vinci's Fish and Chip shop. Home of the Da Vinci Cod perhaps? :)

This is inevitably where we ended up after Strata or Babaza before going to the taxi rank across the road. And remember you must always share your curry sauce!! :)

And just beside that taxi rank is maybe the most famous building in the street, Tam Shepherd's trick shop. Established in 1886 as it says above the door.

This is another photo of the window of this Alladin's cave of tricks, magic, fancy dress, you name it. I used to buy tricks from this shop when I was a kid. Long may Tam Shepherd's be here bringing it's own special magic to Glasgow city centre. Got a memory of Tam Shepherd's? Then post it up here!

By now was soaked through. Came down from Queen Street onto Argyle Street. Here is what it looked like. When you ever see Argyle Street that quiet at lunchtime? Even Glaswegians have to give up when rain this heavy!!

So headed to grab some lunch before heading down to Cadogan Street.

Not a day for walking about. Found out that my right boot is definitely letting in water.

But also got to learn a few things I didn't know before, got to see some cool art and had a quiet smile on my face remembering some good nights out with special friends in Queen Charlotte's Street.

Not bad for a rainy Monday!!

Be well, be happy!!