Alexander's School, at 94 Duke Street,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, was designed by John Burnet and built in 1858 at a cost of £6000 for James Alexander, the proprietor of the cotton mill next door - itself an innovative 1849 fire-proof construction - to educate local children. It was known as "Alexander's Endowed School". It is built in an impressive Italianate style, with the heads of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

and Milton carved high on the front wall by John Crawford. The site is close to where the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

stood in the 19th century, and was opposite Duke Street Women's Prison. Following the

Education (Scotland) Act 1872 The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 ( 35 & 36 Vict. c. 62) made elementary education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 mandatory in Scotland. The Act achieved a more thorough transfer of existing schools to a public system than the E ...

, it became a state school known as the Ladywell School - the district has a

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

long associated with Our Lady - and in the 1960s became an Annexe to

St Mungo's Academy St Mungo's Academy is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, comprehensive, secondary school located in Gallowgate, Glasgow. The school was founded in 1858 by the Marist Brothers religious order. The debate team at St Mungo's were the first Scotti ...

. This was removed in 1977 to Crownpoint Road and the building housed a special needs school. The building was protected as a

category B listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1970, and this was upgraded to category A in 1998. In 1996 it was taken over by the East End Partnership, a local agency dedicated to urban regeneration. This commissioned extensive renovation in 2000 to form The Ladywell Business Centre, housing small businesses.

References

Defunct schools in Glasgow Category A listed buildings in Glasgow Listed schools in Scotland {{Glasgow-stub