Gallery
The Obsidian Isle
Gayle Chong Kwan
The Eastern Palace
Gayle Chong Kwan
The temporary Eastern Palace was an oriental fantasy with a grand dome adorned by an electric-torch wielding golden angel of light. It was designed by Glasgow-based architect James Miller for the Glasgow International Exhibition in Kelvingrove in1901, where it was surrounded by buildings for industrial and machinery displays, concert halls, restaurants and cafes.
Greenside Place
Gayle Chong Kwan
The tenements on Greenside Place in Edinburgh, which were a continuation of Leith Street stood nine-stories high. They were destroyed in1973-4 to make way for a traffic interchange for the planned ring road that was never realised, part of the large- scale building and redevelopment phase which took place in Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s.
Stonelaw School
Gayle Chong Kwan
Luftwaffe bombings during the Second World War centred on Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Clydebank, Greenock and Dundee. Stonelaw School, damaged in an air raid in 1941, was one of the many buildings in Scotland which were left in ruin or destroyed at this time. Opened in 1886, the school could accommodate 568 children and enabled pupils in Rutherglen to continue their education without having to go travel Glasgow.
Fingal's Cave
Gayle Chong Kwan
Staffa is an island made up of hexagonally joined basalt pillars, in the Inner Hebrides, which was bought to the attention of the English-speaking world by Sir Joseph Banks in 1772. Named 'Fingal's Cave' after Macpherson's Ossian, it also provided inspiration for Turner, Wordsworth, Jules Verne and Mendelssohn wrote the 'Hebrides Overture' from his experience of being there. The Gaelic legend of Finn has the hero building a causeway between Scotland and Ireland. Located in this vista are the Theatre Royal Edinburgh, which was destroyed by fire in 1884, the fourth time the theatre had burnt down, as it had previously caught fire in 1853, 1865, and 1875, and also a building from the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, partially destroyed during 'The Great Fire' of November 1824.
Theatre Royal
Gayle Chong Kwan
The Theatre Royal, Queen Street, Glasgow, was built in 1804 by architect David Hamilton, but a fault in its gas supply resulted in the building being destroyed by fire in 1829. Edinburgh artist Alexander Naismith designed the scenery, and the theatre seated 1500 people. In the foreground is one of the schools in Clydebank left in ruin after being hit by bombs during the Second World War.
The Royal Arch
Gayle Chong Kwan
The Royal or Victoria Arch was a neo-Norman structure designed by JT Rochead, which was erected between the Earl Grey and King William IV docks in Dundee to commemorate the visit of Queen Victoria in 1844. It was dynamited in 1964 to make way for slip roads, which connected with the Tay Road Bridge.
Highland Clearances
Gayle Chong Kwan
A shell of a cottage or croft, one of the many ruins or settlements which were forcibly abandoned or left during the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, when vast areas were de-populated when the population were "encouraged", often forcibly, to move off suitable land for more profitable sheep farming.
Tait Tower
Gayle Chong Kwan
Tait Tower, officially known as the Tower of Empire, was a 300ft high art deco structure constructed at the summit of Bellahouston Hill in Bellahouston Park as part of the Empire Exhibition in1938. Designed by Thomas S Tait, it was built in only nine weeks, with all the materials made in Glasgow's manufacturing plants. It was demolished in July 1939, allegedly because it would be a beacon for enemy bombers, although taller structures were not demolished, and the order to demolish seems to have come two months before the war began. Alongside it stands the remains of the first Tay Bridge, designed by Thomas Bouch, which at two miles long was the longest bridge in the world. On the night of 28 December 1879 at 7.15pm, the bridge collapsed after its central spans gave way during high winter gales. A train with six carriages carrying seventy-five passengers and crew, crossing at the time, plunged into the waters of the Tay and all were lost.
Ossian's Hall
Gayle Chong Kwan
Built in 1759 as a view-house in a position overlooking the Black Linn falls, Ossian's Hall was redecorated in 1783 as a shrine to the blind poet Ossian. It was intended to evoke features of 'shock' and 'amazement' in the viewers' minds; the room from where views of the waterfall were taken was lined with mirrors, which made the spectator imagine that the water was appearing from all angles. In1869 vandals blew up Ossian's Hall destroying the internal mirrors and scheme. No one was prosecuted but they suspected Alexander Robertson, Dondonedine, who opposed the tolls levied in the Tay Bridge at Dunkeld by the Duke of Atholl.
McGeoch's Warehouse
Gayle Chong Kwan
William McGeoch and Co.'s Warehouse stood on corner of West Campbell Street and Waterloo Street, Glasgow. Designed by JJ Burnet and built in 1905, it was demolished in1971. Established in 1832, as a brass founders, William McGeoch and Co. is now named McGeoch Technology, based in Birmingham the company describes itelelf as 'worldwide specialists in marine lighting and electrical systems'.