University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the largest of the three universities in Glasgow, Scotland.

Facilities

The university's initial accommodations were part of the complex of religious buildings in the precincts of Glasgow Cathedral. This coexistence became increasingly uneasy with time, particularly following the protestant reformation, after which Glasgow became a predominantly Protestant city. In the 17th century this, combined with the university's growth and the broadening and secularisation of its curriculum, led it to establish its own two-quadrangled building outside the cathedral precincts, on the nearby medieval High Street.

Related Topics:
Glasgow Cathedral - Protestant reformation - 17th century

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Over the following centuries, the university's size and scope continued to expand. It was a centre of the Scottish Enlightenment and subsequently of the industrial revolution, and its expansion in the High Street was constrained by the density of the burgeoning mercantile district.

Related Topics:
Scottish Enlightenment - Industrial revolution

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Consequently in 1870, it moved to a (then a greenfield site) on the Gilmorehill in the West End of the city (around three miles west of its prior location), enclosed by a large loop of the River Kelvin. Its accommodations there were a number of custom-made buildings, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic revival style. The largest of these (now called the Gilbert Scott Building) echoed (in a far grander scale) the High Street campus' twin quadrangle layout. Between the two quadrangles Scott built an open cloister, above which are his grand Bute Hall (used for examinations and graduation ceremonies), and the buildings' signature Gothic bell tower. The sandstone cladding and Gothic design of the buildings' exterior belie the modernity of its Victorian construction — Scott's building is hung on a (then cutting-edge) riveted iron frame, with a lightweight wooden-beam roof.

Related Topics:
1870 - Greenfield site - River Kelvin - George Gilbert Scott - Gothic revival - Gothic - Bell tower - Victorian

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Even these enlarged premises could not contain the ever-growing university, which quickly spread across much of Gilmorehill. The 1930s saw the construction of the award-winning round reading room (it is now a grade-A listed building) and an aggressive programme of house purchases, in which the university (fearing the surrounding district of Hillhead was running out of suitable building land) acquired several terraces of Victorian houses and joined them together internally. The departments of Psychology, Computing Science, and Eastern European Languages continue to be housed in these terraces.

Related Topics:
1930s - Listed building

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More buildings were built beside the main buildings, filling the land between University Avenue and the river with natural science buildings and the faculty of medicine. The medical school spread into neighbouring Partick and joined with the Western General Infirmary. The growth and prosperity of the city, which had forced the university's relocation to Hillhead, again proved problematic when more real estate was required. The school of veterinary medicine, which was founded in 1862, moved to a new campus in the leafy suburb of Garscube in 1954. The university later moved its sports ground and associated facilities to Anniesland (around two miles west of the main campus) and built student halls of residence in both Anniesland and Maryhill.

Related Topics:
Partick - 1862 - 1954

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The growth of tertiary education from the 1960s led the university to build numerous modern buildings across the hill, including several brutalist concrete blocks: the Maclaurin building (housing the department of mathematics, named after university graduate Colin Maclaurin); the Boyd Orr building (a squat grey concrete tower housing lecture rooms and laboratories); and the Adam Smith building (housing the social science faculty, named after university graduate Adam Smith). Other additions around this time, including the glass-lined library tower and the amber-brick geology building were more in keeping with the Gilmorehill's leafy suburban architecture. Interestingly, the erection of these buildings around 1968 also involved the demolition of a large number of houses in Ashton Road, and rerouting the west end of University Avenue to its current position.

Related Topics:
Education - 1960s - Brutalist - Concrete - Colin Maclaurin - Boyd Orr - Adam Smith

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The University's Hunterian Museum resides in the Gilbert Scott Building, and the related Hunterian Gallery is housed in buildings attached to the University Library. The latter includes "The Mackintosh House", a rebuilt terraced house designed by, and furnished after, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Related Topics:
Hunterian Museum - Charles Rennie Mackintosh

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The university opened a campus in the borders town of Dumfries. The Crichton campus, designed to meet the needs for tertiary education in an area far from major concentrations of population, is jointly operated by the University of Glasgow, the University of Paisley, Bell College, and the Open University. It offers a modular curriculum, leading to one of a small number of liberal arts degrees.

Related Topics:
Borders - Dumfries - University of Paisley - Bell College - Open University

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In October 2001 the century-old Bower Building (home to the university's botany department and biological museum) was gutted by fire. Manuscripts by naturalist Charles Darwin, together with a large number of samples obtained on his expeditions, were destroyed. The interior and roof of the building were largely destroyed, although the main facade remained intact. After a £10.8 million refit, the building re-opened to staff and students in November 2004.

Related Topics:
2001 - Charles Darwin

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The Wolfson Medical School Building, with its award-winning glass-fronted atrium, opened in 2002 http://www.gla.ac.uk/faculties/medicine/medschool.html.

Related Topics:
Medical School - 2002

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The university is currently over a number of different campuses. The main one is the Gilmorehill campus, in Hillhead. As well as this there is the Vet School at the top of Maryhill Road, on the Garscube Estate. The University also operates a Dental School in the city centre; as well as the aforementioned Crichton campus in Dumfries; and in 2003 they opened their new Education Faculty Building (the St Andrews Building, replacing Bearsden's St Andrews Campus) in the Woodlands area of the city on the site of the former Queens College, which had in turn been bought by Glasgow Caledonian University, from whom the university acquired the site.

Related Topics:
Hillhead - Maryhill - 2003 - Bearsden - Woodlands - Glasgow Caledonian University

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As well as these teaching campuses the university has halls of residence in and around the North-West of the city. They have the Murano Street halls in Maryhill; the Wolfson halls, also in Maryhill; Queen Margaret halls, in Kelvinside; Reith halls, in North Kelvinside; Kelvinhaugh Gate, in Yorkhill; and the Maclay halls in Park Circus, near Kelvingrove Park.

Related Topics:
Kelvinside - North Kelvinside - Yorkhill - Kelvingrove Park

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The university also has a large sports complex in their Garscube Estate, beside their Wolfson Halls and Vet School. This is a new facility. They sold their previous sports ground (Westerlands) which was in the Anniesland area of Glasgow.

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