THE history of Glasgow’s municipal public buildings was largely shaped by the remarkable story of the city’s population growth and the increasing scale of work undertaken by the council on behalf of its its citizens.
The council’s earliest home, for which we have definite knowledge, was the 17th century Tolbooth, which took the place of an older Tolbooth which dated from at least 1454. In 1625 the old Tollbooth was ruinous, and arrangements were made to have it replaced in 1626 by a more modern structure on the same site.
The new Tolbooth was completed in September 1627. It was a very handsome, picturesque building, in the Scots-French manner of the period, four storeys high over a basement. The top level was reached by an external double staircase. Only the steeple now remains.
Although it served for almost 200 years, the Tolbooth was too small to host council meetings.
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In the 1730s, the council bought adjoining land on the west side for a new chamber, municipal offices and assembly rooms. It had an internal link to the Tolbooth. Completed in 1740, it was surrounded by a piazza, under which shops were built sometime after 1801.
The town hall was used for all important public and municipal functions and festivities, and when its public functions ceased in 1854, it closed with a banquet for the inauguration of the equestrian statue of Queen Victoria.
During the 19th century the chambers moved four times as the accommodation failed to meet the rapidly increasing requirements for the new council.
The inadequacy of the Tolbooth buildings was officially recognised by the council and in 1809 the authority agreed to erect a new building to include a new jail, court hall, and council chambers. The Justiciary Courts were designed by William Stark and erected at the foot of Saltmarket between 1809 and 1814.
The growing city was not long in outstripping the accommodation at the Green. In 1844 a new building was erected in Wilson Street to accommodate the municipal administration of the city and the judicial work of both city and counties.
This, too, was short-lived, and the council acquired the rest of the block between Wilson and Ingram Streets, and the municipal offices moved to the Ingram Street end of the block.
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Ingram Street was never going to be a long-term solution.
The city had continued to expand and had acquired extra functions including police, parks, galleries, museums, and the water supply. In addition, a huge health department had been organised, and construction of the Tramways offices had begun.
In 1878 the council obtained powers to acquire two blocks on George Square. The rest is history.
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