Hutchesontown

Hutchesontown
Lanarkshire
Hutchesontown
Location
Grid reference:	NS594636
Location:	55°50’50"N, 4°14’38"W
Data
Post town:	Glasgow
Postcode:	G5
Dialling code:	0141
Local Government
Council:	Glasgow
Parliamentary constituency:	Glasgow Central

Hutchesontown is an inner-city area in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. Mostly residential, it is situated directly south of the River Clyde and forms part of the wider historic Gorbals district.

The area is linked to Glasgow Green public park on the north side of the river by St Andrew's Suspension Bridge and King's Bridge. At its north-western edge, Albert Bridge is the closest crossing point towards Glasgow city centre. In McNeill Street, Hutchesontown has one of Glasgow's original Carnegie libraries, deftly designed by the Inverness-born architect James Robert Rhind. James Stokes, recipient of the Victoria Cross, was from the area.

History

Following the Second World War, Hutchesontown was declared a Comprehensive Development Area in 1957, in the aftermath of the Bruce Report. This called for the mass gentrification of the area which took the form of |slum clearance and the replacement of overcrowded, insanitary tenement housing with new homes in high rise tower blocks. The area became almost unrecognisable from its previous appearance, with blocks of tenements swept away along with several Victorian and Edwardian-era churches and civic buildings which in later times would have been considered to be of architectural merit.

Hutchesontown was, in effect, used as a testing ground for similar schemes around the city. It was decided to divide the area into five "zones" which were given to different architects to implement a mixture of different schemes.

Pictures

• 

  River Clyde and Waddell Court towers ('Hutchie B'), 2009

• 

  Ballater Street, 2009

• 

  Waddell Street, 2013

• 

  Modern apartments on the site of Queen Elizabeth Square

• 

  19th-century St Francis Church, in 'Hutchie C' area but spared from the wrecking ball, now a community centre, 2012

• 

  Caledonia Road towers ('Hutchie D'), 2005, shortly before the demolition of two (right)

• 

  Gorbals Training Centre, McNeill Street (formerly Hutchesontown Library), 2013

• 

  Sandiefield Road towers ('Hutchie E'), 2011

• 

  Low-rise Area "E" flats in 1987, shortly prior to demolition

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hutchesontown)

• Greater Gorbals, socio-economic profile at Understanding Glasgow (2012)
• Hutchesontown - Illustrated Guide