The story of Glasgow's historic public loos now hidden from view

But look closer. Do you see? That line of bricks at the end of the concrete is fresher, different from the rest. They block the entrance to an underground building which was once one of many similar buildings commonly found on the streets of Glasgow.

They were the city’s public toilets.

The first public urinals were installed during the 1850s in response to the spread of disease in Glasgow’s overcrowded conditions.

They arose from a partnership between Bailie James Moir of Glasgow Town Council and Walter Macfarlane & Co (Architectural, Sanitary and Engineering Founders).

Their Saracen Foundry manufactured cast iron products for clients all over the world. Although well-known for their grand ornamental pieces such as drinking fountains, bandstands and gates, Macfarlane’s also produced urinals in a range of sizes.  

The plans for the Alexandra Park toilets in 1909 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

The company realised that their public urinals would need to be both easier to build and longer lasting than their counterparts for private use. The urinals also needed to incorporate good ventilation. Ornamental perforations were made in the walls which allowed air to flow in from the outside, keeping the rooms smelling fresh.

The first urinals were free of charge to use (although this changed in later years) and were located in and around major public areas such as Glasgow Green. There was one to the north side of its main entrance and another situated at the west end of Monteith Row.

So hard-wearing were these urinals that the first removals did not occur until the late 1890s, almost fifty years after their introduction.

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The first facilities for females were not provided until January 1877 when one was built in the Glasgow Corporation building adjacent to the prison in Jail Square.

 These contained water closets (rooms with flushing toilets), a wash-hand basin and a female attendant. Her duties included cleaning, supervising and opening and closing the facilities at fixed times. Unlike the urinals, there was a charge of a halfpenny to use these toilets.

It was in 1894, shortly before some of the original urinals were being phased out, that the first underground facilities were introduced. Now known as public lavatories, they came equipped with their own telephone facilities (presumably for the attendant’s use). More and more lavatories, both overground and underground, were built until every district in the city was provided for.

Various crosses in the city including those at Gorbals, Bridgeton, Anderston, Parkhead and Partick soon boasted one.

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The Glasgow Cross facility had three attendants as it never closed. Other conveniences were built in green spaces such as Phoenix Park in Garscube Road. Still others sprang up in populated areas including in Springburn Road, Balgray Road, Cumberland Street and Minerva Street.

The new facilities were in high demand especially among shipyard workers, factory workers and Corporation employees who traversed the city as part of their work.

In 1898, the Tramways Committee agreed to pay five pounds per year for their liveried employees to use the underground public conveniences for free.

Interestingly, the Tramways also had a part to play in the new Minerva Street facilities. When they laid down tram tracks in Finnieston Street, this required the removal of the existing urinal. The Tramways agreed to pay £50 towards the cost of this and to contribute to the construction of a new underground convenience in Minerva Street.

This period of building is well reflected in our series of plans of public conveniences prepared by the Glasgow Corporation Cleansing Department and which cover 1899 – 1921.

This coloured plan of the public urinals envisioned at the entrance to Alexandra Park is drawn from the series and dates to January 1909. It opened the following year, part of the Parks Department’s efforts to provide more amenities in the city’s public green spaces.

It did take longer for some areas of Glasgow to gain their own conveniences. For example, Glasgow Corporation struggled to find a suitable site in Anniesland until 1930 when one at the outskirts of the cross was chosen.

However, though the building still remains, it’s now closed as a public convenience, a fate which the others in public ownership also met during the late 1990s and early 2000s.