Tait Tower (also known as Tait's Tower and officially as the Tower of Empire) was a tower in the

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style constructed at the summit of Ibrox Hill in

Bellahouston Park Bellahouston Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Bhaile Ùisdean'') is a public park in the Bellahouston district on the South Side of Glasgow, Scotland, between the areas of Craigton, Dumbreck, Ibrox and Mosspark covering an area of . The main ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in Scotland as part of the

Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938 Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938 was an international exposition held at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, from May to December 1938. The Exhibition offered a chance to showcase and boost the economy of Scotland, and celebrate Empire trad ...

. It was designed by

Thomas S. Tait Thomas Smith Tait (18 June 1882 – 18 July 1954) was a Scottish modernist architect. He designed a number of buildings around the world in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles, notably St. Andrew's House (the headquarters of the Scottish ...

, stood high and had three separate observation decks which provided a view of the surrounding gardens and city. Due to both the height of the tower and the hill it was built on, it could be seen away. The tower was the centrepiece of the Empire Exhibition and its image featured on many of the souvenirs that could be bought at the exhibition site. The Empire Exhibition took place at a time when Glasgow was the centre of British

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

and engineering, and the materials – steel beams riveted together and clad in corrugated steel – were produced by Glasgow manufacturing plants. Tait's design and readily available materials made it possible for the tower to be constructed in only nine weeks. The tower was dismantled in July 1939 after the exhibition closed.''Glasgow's Great Exhibitions'', P & J Kinchin, White Cockade Publishing. The foundations remain at Bellahouston Park. Thomas' son

Gordon Tait Gordon Thomas Tait (12 March 1912 – 3 October 1999) was a British architect, active in London. Life and work Tait was the eldest son of Scottish architect Thomas S. Tait, Thomas Smith Tait and Constance Hardy. He abandoned a career as a ...

also worked on the project. In December 2007, the Tait Tower was included in a 3D graphic reconstruction of the Empire Exhibition by the Digital Design Studio at

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, sourced from contemporary photographs, film footage, sketches and drawings from the archive of the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

References

External links

Information about the tower and picture
- 3D reconstruction of the tower by Glasgow School of Art
Photographs of the Tait Tower
- Mitchell Library {{coord, 55.84547, N, 4.31729, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Towers completed in 1938 1938 establishments in Scotland Art Deco architecture in Scotland Skyscrapers in Glasgow Former towers Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Towers in Scotland World's fair architecture in Glasgow 1939 disestablishments in Scotland Buildings and structures demolished in 1939

See also

References

External links