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Sir Basil Spence
Event ID 567335
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Sir Basil Spence
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/567335
Building Notes
By the 1950s Glasgow's Hutchesontown/Gorbals area had some of the worst housing conditions in Europe. To combat this problem Glasgow Corporation created the Hutchesontown/Gorbals Comprehensive Development Area. Their aim was to replace 62 acres of slums with new low and high density housing, schools and shops. In 1959 Basil Spence was commissioned to design a 15-acre development as part of this major scheme. His brief was to provide a community centre, police station, shops, and 400 dwellings; a mix of maisonettes and one- to four-bedroom apartments.
Spence carried out initial designs in London but all working drawings were done at his Edinburgh office Sir Basil Spence Glover & Ferguson. Peter Ferguson was responsible for the contracts, supervision and progressing of the work on site. Ove Arup & Partners were the Structural Engineers.
The completed block became known to locals as 'Hutchie C' and consisted of ten tower modules connected by drying green areas and arranged in two large slabs. Spence's practice designed light industrial units nearby but the proposed shopping precinct and police station were designed by other architects.
The first residents arrived in June 1965. Over the next three decades the accommodation became difficult for the Corporation to maintain and their condition deteriorated. After harsh criticism they were demolished in 1993.
Archive Details
Drawings in the Spence Glover & Ferguson Collection, also held at RCAHMS, include early proposals for the scheme showing an alternative arrangement of blocks and a different style of concrete legs to the splayed ones that were built to support the accommodation. The drawings show Spence's idea that the balconies were to be large and like gardens.
One surviving correspondence folder on the Gorbals is held in the Sir Basil Spence Archive and includes facts, figures and quotes for publication. These detail Spence's aim to 'humanise high-rise living', and show that he wanted his blocks to resemble a 'great ship dressed overall' on Monday, the traditional day that everyone did their washing. Many of the letters inform Spence of the project's progress, and one dated October 1964 mentions that the Sunday papers were bothering the practice as Glasgow housing had very much become a hot election issue.
Also included are pamphlets written by Lady Allen of Hurtwood, a landscape architect, advocate of childrens' welfare, and a campaigner for good playground facilities in the 1950s high-rise developments of Britain's cities.
Archive Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive contains 53 drawings, two photographs and two manuscript files including press cuttings. The Spence Glover & Ferguson Collection contains 226 drawings and 139 photographs, some of which show Queen Elizabeth visiting the site and unveiling a foundation plaque. In 1993 RCAHMS made a video record of the demolition.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
