Historic Glasgow church to be demolished in new development plans
“The situation with the Baptist church is such a sad reflection on how our heritage is managed or mismanaged in Glasgow – I doubt we would see this being allowed to happen in Edinburgh yet this building is being allowed to crumble before our very eyes.”
councillor Jill Brown
Hillhead Baptist Church in the West End of Glasgow is set to be demolished as Wemyss Properties move forward with their development plans.
The church, built in 1883 by Scottish architect and interior designer Thomas Lennox Watson has been a mainstay of the Hillhead landscape for over 125 years.
Jill Brown, Labour Councillor for Partick East/Kelvindale, said: “The situation with the Baptist church is such a sad reflection on how our heritage is managed or mismanaged in Glasgow – I doubt we would see this being allowed to happen in Edinburgh yet this building is being allowed to crumble before our very eyes which will allow the developers to rip it down, and pop a new building in its place, make the financials stack up better and move on to the next plot.”
Located in Creswell Street, the building was granted B-list status in 1970, but after a report by Historic Environment Scotland concerning the poor conditions, there has been no congregation at the church for 20 years.
In the new plans put forward in the community consultation, there will be none of the original structure of the building remaining once the new housing is built.
A spokesperson for Wemyss Properties said: “We are conscious of the desire in some quarters to retain the building.
“However, recent condition surveys show that the building is now deteriorating more quickly than anticipated. Future repair work will be extensive and increasingly costly, compounded by the significant rise in construction costs and inflationary pressures.
“Several development options have been tested over the past 12 months, which involved the retention of the original façade, increasing storey heights, partial retention of the façade and full demolition.
“A combination of increased build costs, COVID, compromised nature of the units, the poor condition of the stone due to years of neglect, and historic repairs which have had knock-on effects, have rendered the option of building retention as unfeasible.
“A development appraisal was also carried out to determine how many additional storeys would be needed in order to make a scheme which retained the full façade feasible. The results of this showed the new build component would need to be at least 20-storeys high, as such this option has been discounted.
“The portico was identified as the most significant part of the building and options were developed which retained this aspect. However, due to the compromised nature of the stone, and the poor quality of the apartments that would be formed behind it, this option is not viable.
“This made demolition of the building as the only viable option, delivering much needed quality homes which are sympathetic to the area.”
The new development plans have been met with concern from other locals as well as politicians like Brown.
Niall Murphy, Director of Glasgow Heritage Trust, urged X users to share their thoughts on the proposal, he also gave some background to the church’s signifigance to Glasgow’s heritage. On X, he shared: “This Greek Revival church is a product of #Glasgow’s golden summer of architecture and Watson is one of the figures who helped create that milieu. Other examples of his work include the Evening Citizen building in St Vincent Place and the Royal Clyde Yacht Club in Dunoon.”
Donald is a third year Multimedia Journalism student at Glasgow Caledonian University.
