Old photographs of the Govanhill region of Glasgow

Govanhill is almost certainly the most intact area of working-class tenement housing left in Glasgow. Apart from on its northeastern fringes, few of the four-storey blocks dating from the late 19th century have been demolished, and the grid-plan of the streets remains exactly as it was laid out more than 100 years ago. Govanhill was a relatively late housing development, and toughening legislation about the quality of building meant that almost all the housing was erected with internal sanitation, in contrast to the nearby Gorbals. A minimum of two rooms was stipulated for the buildings; there were no single-ends in Govanhill. Also, town planning regulations by then meant that, as with Dennistoun in the east end but unlike, say, Govan,
Springburn and elsewhere, most of the local industry lay outwith the residential area, including factories such as Dub’s railway Works in Polmadie, which had 2500 workers, and the Corporation Tramway across Pollokshaws Road. Population density was low. With 15,000 people in an area comparable in size to the Gorbals, which held 50,000, Govanhill was - again like Dennistoun - an area inhabited by the skilled, respectable
sections of the Glasgow working class; and thus it remained in the mid 1970s. In addition to good housing, the area had all the facilities a community needed; the wonderful Queen’s Park to the south, as well as Govanhill Park itself, a public library, a Corporation public baths and wash house - and four cinemas and a dance hall. Govanhill has had its ups and downs since it was laid out, and the best way to see how it is faring with the passing of time is to take a walkabout, which is always a better way to appreciate and learn, rather than relying on secondhand and often misrepresentative information.

THE WALK

Alight at Crosshill station at the southern periphery of Govanhill. Crosshill had brieﬂy been an independent burgh till it was annexed to Glasgow in 1891, along with Govanhill itself. Walk down to Cathcart Road and you arrive at the Dixon Halls. William Dixon was the owner of the Dixon’s Blazes ironworks across the railway tracks in the Gorbals to the south of Govanhill, and he provided much of the employment in this area. He also owned much of the local land, feuing it for housing. He gifted Dixon Halls, designed by Frank Stirrat, to a Govan and Crosshill in 1879 to serve as town halls and courtrooms for both burghs. The building is in Scots Baronial style, with stepped gables and turrets, and is B-listed. Separate entrances gave access to each section, and the building was built and divided across the actual burgh boundaries. Two for the price of one.
Moving down Cathcart Road you cross bustling Allison Street and soon off to the right at Bankhall Street you’ll see a building in disrepair that looks.
like a cross between a Hindu temple and a mosque. But even in multicultural Govanhill, it is neither. This fantasy building was the Govanhill Cinema and dates from the 1920s. It is sad to see its present state. Take a left after passing it and cross Calder Street and amble south towards Aitkenhead Road. Hereabouts are many very ﬁne cottage-style houses built by Glasgow Corporation in the mid 20th century. It is quiet and peaceful around these parts of Govanhill. At the foot of Aitkenhead Road you are looking towards the New Gorbals, but turn left back up Cathcart Road for a short distance then take a right along Butterbiggins Road, the name possibly indicating that a creamery or some such was once located here. At the far end is the former Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women, now converted into ﬂats, a handsome building that marries Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts styles. Most of the building dates from the 1890s and 1900s, with later extensions.
Heading back south takes you along the broad boulevard of Victoria Road, with the gates of Queen’s Park forming its endpiece. Unlike many inner-city . working-class areas, Victoria Road is lively and most of the shops, pubs and other facilities are open and busy.
There are no shortage of pits stops here to suit every pocket and taste in food and drink. All human life is here.
A left ( east ) turn along Calder Street brings you to the social, cultural and political heart of Govanhill — the baths.
Built by Glasgow’s Office of Public Works and opened at the time of the First World War, the B-listed building has an impressive twin-doored exterior
and a lavish interior, and is the last more or less intact public baths from a century ago. Closed by Glasgow City Council in the 1990s after a bitter ﬁght to save it by residents, it was later gifted to the community, is now a trust and is in the process of gradually reopening all its former swimming facilities and adding new ones in the form of learning classes and performing arts events ( govanhillbaths.com ). This project has been an enormous success against the odds and played a major role in helping Govanhill’s varied population come together. Make a point of going inside the building and looking around ( call 0141 433 2999 to check availability ).
Govanhill’s demographics have changed and are changing. In the 1970s the area was overwhelmingly white working class, although many of the
shops and businesses in Calder Street and Allison Street Were run by Glasgow’s Jewish community. Today the shops are mostly run by the Asian
community which has moved here in the last 30 years, and they have been followed by eastern Europeans, mainly Roma. It is difficult to give precise
ﬁgures, but possibly each of these groups amounts to 2000 out of a total population of around 10,000 in Govanhill - where there are more than
40 nationalities and even more languages spoken. There are undoubtedly problems but there is more tolerance and integration between these communities than in most major British cities. Recently they came together for a weekend festival of anti-racist music, with a march and carnival in Queen’s Park attended by thousands of people.
Next to the baths is the splendid B-listed Govanhill Library. It was constructed to designs by James R Rhind in 1906, as were the libraries in Maryhill, Bridgeton and elsewhere, and has Rhind’s usual inspiring sculpted ﬁgures representing learning and study on the roof. A former user of the library
was RD Laing, the psychiatrist who achieved notoriety in the 1960s with his radical theories including drug therapy. Laing was born in Govanhill
and there is a plaque on the block at 21 Ardbeg Street next to the library commemorating him. His father was a skilled electrical engineer with the
mining equipment ﬁrm of Mavour and Coulson, and possibly typical of the Govanhill tenantry of that period. As you walk along Allison Street, and
indeed, around a sizeable part of Govanhill, it is hard not to notice that things have changed since Laing’s day.
Many of the tenement properties have been bought by unscrupulous landlords, who have packed the immigrant tenants into overcrowded
and often unsafe buildings which they have allowed to fall into disrepair. Nowhere is this more evident than further along Calder Street Where an
A-listed tenement block carries a small plaque indicating that it was designed by no less than Alexander “Greek” Thomson in 1875. Thomson was an
evangelist for good working-class housing but he would despair to see the condition of his block today. '
Thankfully, Glasgow City Council with help from the Scottish Government has made compulsory purchase orders on four blocks of tenements in Govanhill, which are undergoing restoration as social housing, and established Enhanced Enforcement Areas in many more blocks, forcing landlords to bring the buildings up to tolerable levels.
Soon we are back at Cathcart Road, and a pech uphill returns you to Crosshill Station. There is much more to see in Govanhill, but you have seen
its heart. And it still beats.

"Walking through Glasgow’s Industrial Past" by Ian R Mitchell, published by Luath Press

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