The story of Glasgow's People's Palace as it turns 125

It was opened on January 22, 1898, by the 5th Earl of Rosebery, who described it as “a palace of pleasure and imagination around which the people may place their affections and which may give them a home on which their memory may rest".

At the time, the East End was one of the most deprived and overcrowded areas of Glasgow, and the palace was intended to serve as a cultural centre for its people. 

It was a museum about the people, for the people – an open space which is welcome to anyone, from older generations who could reminisce on the aspects of city life portrayed in the museum to the younger crowd learning about what life was like for their grandparents and great-grandparents.

The palace was designed by Alexander B McDonald and decorated with sculptures representing some of the industries Glasgow is best known for: art, science, shipbuilding, industry and progress.

The People’s Palace is spread over three floors and celebrates Glasgow’s social history through various exhibits.

Learn about the famous weegie patter, our relationship with booze, what it’s like to live in a tenement, and all about the city’s public washhouses or ‘steamies’.

Check out Sir Billy Connolly’s famous banana boots, sit in an Anderson shelter used during the Second World War, go ‘doon the watter’ on steamers such as the Waverley, and go to the dancin’ at the Barrowland Ballroom.

One of the most loved features of the palace is the historic Winter Gardens, attached to the rear of the building and houses exotic tropical plants within a stunning Victorian glass conservatory.

It was featured as the location for Winston Ingram’s wedding in the second-last-ever episode of Still Game.

In 2019 the gardens and the palace closed after the site was deemed structurally unsafe. But while the palace managed to reopen after a major refurbishment, and again in 2021 after being closed during the pandemic, the gardens remained closed and have become derelict.

This was due to the sealant for the glasshouse needing replaced, but difficulties in securing adequate funds have led to concerns about the fate of the gardens and if they will ever reopen.

At the front entrance of the palace sits the largest terracotta fountain in the world, the Doulton Fountain. Forty-six feet tall and 70 feet across the base, it was designed by renowned ceramics manufacturer the Doulton Company in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

Doulton Fountain (Image: Archive image. Newsquest.)

Originally erected in Kelvingrove Park, the fountain has been moved twice and survived being struck by lightning to end up where it is today.

Not far from the fountain is a small plaque dedicated to a much-loved employee of the palace during the 1980s. She was hired by Glasgow City Council to tackle the building’s rodent problem and became a member of the GMB union after being refused admission to the National and Local Government Officers’ Association as a blue-collar worker.

Her name was Smudge, and she was a cat.

Smudge was the only cat ever to be a GMB member and she became a local celebrity, with feline-themed merchandise flying off the shelves including Smudge t-shirts, fridge magnets and ceramic ‘replicats’.

She also became the face of several city campaigns, including Save the Glasgow Vet School in 1989 and Paws Off Glasgow Green the following year.

She was a faithful employee – apart from during a few weeks in 1987 when she went missing but was later returned to the palace when she was found – until her retirement in 1991. She died at her home in 2000 after a long illness.

Despite a few bumps in the road due to vital restoration and the pandemic, the People's Palace will hopefully remain an important slice of the city's history.

When opening the building 125 years ago yesterday, Rosebery declared the building "open to the people forever and ever".