Riverside Museum

Not to be confused with Riverside Museum at Blake's Lock

Riverside Museum
Lanarkshire
Riverside Museum, Glasgow
Type:	Museum
Location
Grid reference:	NS55766595
Location:	55°51’54"N, 4°18’23"W
City:	Glasgow
History
	Built 2011
By:	Zaha Hadid
	Museum
Information
Website:	www.glasgowlife.org.uk

The Riverside Museum (replacing the preceding Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a purpose-built museum standing on the north bank of the River Clyde, in the Partick area of Glasgow, Lanarkshire. It is housed in a modern building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, with a frontage to the river at the new Pointhouse Quay. It forms part of the Glasgow Harbour regeneration project. The building opened in June 2011.

The museum houses many exhibits of national and international importance. The Govan–Partick Bridge, opened in 2024, provides a pedestrian and cycle path link from the museum across the Clyde to Govan.

History

Glasgow Museum of Transport (1964–2010)

The Museum of Transport was opened on 14 April 1964 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Created in the wake of the closure of Glasgow's tramway system in 1962, it was initially located at the former Coplawhill tram depot on Albert Drive in Pollokshields, before moving to the Kelvin Hall in 1988. The old building was subsequently converted into the Tramway arts centre.

The museum was then situated inside the Kelvin Hall opposite the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Yorkhill in the west end of Glasgow. The Kelvin Hall was built in 1927, and operated as an exhibition centre prior of the opening of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in 1985, then was converted in 1987 to house the Museum of Transport and the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena.

The Kelvin Hall site itself closed in April 2010, with the Museum moving to its third home at the Riverside Museum in June 2011.

Riverside Museum (2011–present)

The River Kelvin meeting the Clyde in front of the Riverside Museum

The museum at Kelvin Hall closed on 18 April 2010, with most of its collections moved to the purpose-built Riverside Museum at Pointhouse, located next to the confluence between the River Kelvin and the Clyde. This site, where the former A. & J. Inglis shipyard built the PS Waverley, enables the Clyde Maritime Trust's tall ship Glenlee and other visiting craft to berth alongside the museum. The current museum opened on Tuesday 21 June 2011.

The Riverside Museum building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and engineers Buro Happold. The internal exhibitions and displays were designed by Event Communications, a specialist London-based museum design firm.

interior of building	Outside space at Riverside Museum
Detail of south elevation	The Riverside Museum and the Glenlee berthed outside

Collections

South African Locomotive at the Museum

Class 15F locomotive 3007

Exhibits

As well as housing many of the existing collections of the Glasgow Museum of Transport, the city has acquired South African Railways Class 15F 4-8-2 steam locomotive, No.3007. Built by the Glasgow-based North British Locomotive Company at its Polmadie Works in 1945, the locomotive was bought in late 2006 from Transnet. It was on display in George Square for a short time in 2007, as part of the effort to raise the £5 million public contribution funding.

Models of Queen Mary (foreground) and Queen Elizabeth (background) in the Clyde Room (Kelvin Hall)

Full-scale recreation of a pre-1977 Glasgow Subway

Road vehicles

The museum housed the oldest surviving pedal cycle and the world's leading collection of Scottish-built cars and trucks, including pioneering examples from such manufacturers as Argyll, Arrol-Johnston and Albion.

All forms of transport were featured, from horse-drawn vehicles to fire engines, from motorcycles to caravans, even toy cars and prams.

Ship models

In the Clyde Room was a display of some 250 ship models, representing the contribution of the River Clyde and its shipbuilders and engineers to maritime trade and the Royal Navy, including the Comet of 1812, the Hood, the Howe, the Queen Mary, and the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2.

Railway and municipal transport exhibits

Locomotive manufacture was also an important Glasgow industry and the museum celebrated the city's railway heritage, including locomotives such as:

• The Caledonian Railway - Caley No. 123 single driver
• Highland Railway - No. 103, the Jones Goods
• North British Railway - 256 "Glen Douglas" (on loan from the Scottish Railway Preservation Society).
• Glasgow and South Western Railway - 5 Class 0-6-0T no. 9
• South African Railways - 15F 4-8-2 no. 3007

Model of the old St Enoch station

Other main exhibits displayed the evolution of Glasgow's public transport system and included seven Glasgow Corporation Tramways tramcars from different eras, Glasgow Corporation trolleybuses, and the reconstruction of "Kelvin Street", which aimed to recapture the atmosphere of 1930s Glasgow, including full-scale replicas of a pre-1977 Glasgow Subway station and the Regal Cinema, which played transport documentaries such as Seawards the Great Ships.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Riverside Museum)

• The Riverside Museum