Laurieston, Glasgow
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Laurieston is a
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
in the
Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and e ...
area of the
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
city of
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 ...
. It is situated south of the
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
. It derives its name from James Laurie who, along with his brother, developed a large part of the district in the early 19th century.


History

Laurieston is a core part of the Gorbals. Compared to other neighbourhoods in the vicinity, many of its 19th century buildings escaped the
slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
s of the 1960s and 70s, particularly in the north of the district close to the river. However the
tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...
s further south were swept away to be replaced by four black 'slab'
tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...
s (which actually consisted of four pairs of towers with separate entrances, joined together externally). Whilst the blocks (''Norfolk Court'' and ''Stirlingfauld Place'') solved a short term housing need and were popular with some residents due to their proximity to central Glasgow, they were expensive to maintain and became increasingly undesirable in terms of their build quality and aesthetic appeal. Over a period of several years in the early 21st century the residents were relocated and the towers demolished. A further redevelopment of modern low rise apartments is now underway.ClydeWaterfront.com - Laurieston
/ref> Some local landmarks, such as Glasgow Sheriff Court and the O2 Academy Glasgow (the former New Bedford Cinema) are most accurately located in Laurieston. Laurieston is served by Bridge Street subway station on the Glasgow Subway. Many local bus routes also converge there (on Eglinton Street and Gorbals Street) before entering Glasgow city centre. The
West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
railway tracks form the western boundary of the district and there are other tracks nearby (linking to the City Union Bridge), but it has been several decades since Laurieston or the Gorbals had its own train station.


See also

* Glasgow tower blocks *
List of tallest voluntarily demolished buildings Voluntary building demolition is the decision by either the landowner or a higher government body to demolish a building for any number of reasons, ranging from severe structural damage to the redevelopment of the land it sits upon. Involuntary ( ...


References


External links


Laurieston Gorbals - Architecture and HistoryLaurieston Living - new housing development in the areaGreater Gorbals
socio-economic profile at ''Understanding Glasgow'' (2012) Areas of Glasgow Gorbals {{Glasgow-geo-stub