Charing Cross Station – Glasgow

Dating from 1886, it was originally part of the Glasgow City and District Railway, the first underground railway in Scotland, and as such the station is built below the surface of the surrounding streets. The station was built using the cut and cover method, with the original walls being visible on the open air section at the western end of the platforms.

In 1968 it was demolished due to it being in the path of the new Glasgow Inner Ring Road, and the surface access to the station was moved to its eastern end, with a new surface building constructed as part of the Elmbank Gardens office complex in 1971 – the building was designed by the Richard Seifert & Partners.

Wikipedia

I was there in 2024 to photograph the Charles Anderson mural.

Constructed in situ – one third has now been removed at the northern end

Charles Anderson studied drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art under David Donaldson, Mary Armour etc, graduating with Diploma in 1959.  The following year he entered  The Royal Scottish Academy painting competition for Post Graduate students and  won the Chalmers Bursary.  Joan Eardley – one of the adjudicators- took a keen interest in his work and encouraged him to exhibit at the RSA the same year. 

Following a period of five years teaching art,  He worked as a professional mural painter and sculptor for the next thirty years on major art and design projects throughout the United Kingdom, carrying out commissions for  a wide variety of clients including local authorities, property developers, banks and major insurance companies.    His most prestigious commission to date was the result of winning a national sculpture competition to provide a  bronze figurative group  which is entitled “The Community”  for Livingston New Town in 1996.  In early 1997  he returned  to the painting of easel pictures and  contributed to the annual exhibitions of The Royal Glasgow Institute, the Royal  Scottish Society  of  Painters in Watercolours, The Royal Scottish Academy and The Paisley Art Institute. He has works in various private collections throughout the U.K. and abroad.

Charles Anderson Art

The £250m transformation of the Charing Cross area of Glasgow has been given the go-ahead.

The project including new homes, student accommodation, hotel space and local services has been approved by Glasgow City Council.

Developers CXG Glasgow also plan to knock down the 300 Bath Street office building, which bridges the M8 motorway.

Further detailed applications will need to go before the council for approval before the Charing Cross Gateway project can begin.

BBC 2024

Tapton Hall – Sheffield

Shore Lane Sheffield S10 3BU

The Masonic Hall has an extension of 1967 by Hadfield Cawkson Davidson & Partners

The Masonic Hall has an extension of 1967 has a concrete mural by William Mitchell.

Symbolising the turmoil and chaos of the outside world, contrasting with the order of the Masonic Temple – a Freemason told me so.

I thought to propose the idea that this may well be a false dichotomy – then thought I’d better not.

These are the constituent panels.

These are the details.

Having been asked to speak to the Sheffield University Alumni Women’s Group – on the subject of Modernist Sheffield, I had easy access to the interior space.

I was ever so excited to discover these decorative panels on the stairway – I assume that they are also the work of William Mitchell.

Nobody knew.

The Masonic Hall is now a venue in addition to being a Masonic Hall.

It was once the home of steel magnate Edward Vickers.

Vickers was a successful miller who invested his money in the railway industry. In 1828 he garnered control of his father-in-law’s steel foundry business, formerly Naylor & Sanderson, and renamed it Naylor Vickers & Co. He went on to be Alderman and the Mayor of Sheffield and was the first President of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce before he died in 1897.