Duke Street, Glasgow
 | |
| Length | 1.6 mi (2.6 km) |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 55°51′35″N 4°14′06″W / 55.85978°N 4.23513°W |
| west end |
 A8 road |
| east end |
 A89 road |
Duke Street is a street running to the East End of Glasgow from the High Street in the City Centre, through the residential district of Dennistoun, running past The Forge Shopping Centre, before terminating at a junction with the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road), Westmuir Street and Springfield Road, to form a turreted Edwardian five-way junction at Parkhead Cross.
From 1460 to 1870, the original buildings of the University of Glasgow were located at the junction of High Street and Duke Street, before moving to the West End. The site was then turned into the College Goods yard by the City of Glasgow Union Railway before it was closed in 1968 in the wake of the Beeching Axe. The derelict wall of the goods warehouse with its distinctive arched windows still faces onto this section of Duke Street. This wall is being preserved as part of a new hotel within the Glasgow Collegelands development which as of 2010 is currently under construction.
Glasgow's Infantry barracks was also built adjacent to the University, between Duke Street and the Gallowgate, in 1795. It could accommodate up to 1,000 men but by the mid-19th century the buildings were in a dire condition and in 1872 new barracks were completed in the suburb of Maryhill. The site was also used as part of the College Goods yard site.[1]
The new Glasgow Meat Market and Abattoir was opened at the corner of Duke Street and Bellgrove Street in Calton, in the 1980s after the original meat market in the nearby Gallowgate, which dated from 1879, closed. The new meat market closed in July 2001 and was demolished in 2007, with a new residential development constructed on the site which retained the old market's two listed Victorian entrance archways.
From 1798 to 1955 Duke Street was best known for being the location of Duke Street Prison, before it was demolished in 1958, making way for the Ladywell housing scheme which was built on the site from 1961-1964 and still stands today. The only remaining structure of Duke Street Prison is some of the boundary wall.[2]
Today landmarks on Duke Street include the A-listed Ladywell Business Centre, originally designed by John Burnet in 1858 as the Alexanders Endowed School, Tennents' Wellpark Brewery, the nearby Glasgow Necropolis and the A-listed former Sydney Place United Presbyterian Church which was damaged in a fire but was restored by The Glasgow Building Preservation Trust in 1996 as an extension to the Wellpark Enterprise Centre, although it is currently vacant.[3] There is also a large British Bakeries factory and the Great Eastern Hotel at no. 100, which was a notorious common lodging house and is now being converted into apartments. There was also the Eastern District Hospital, latterly known as Duke Street Hospital, before closing in 1994, when it was converted into flats. The area is served by High Street railway station, Bellgrove railway station and Duke Street railway station.
References
- ↑ Glasgow Infantry Barracks
- ↑ Elizabeth Williamson, Anne Riches & Malcolm Higgs, The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow. London: Penguin Books 1990. ISBN 0-14-071069-8
- ↑
