When the People's Palace and Winter Garden opened in 1898 the surrounding area of Glasgow's old centre and East End was an unhealthy and extremely overcrowded place.
Glasgow
Green was the only large area for recreation nearby. Lord
Rosebery, speaking to a crowd of about 3,500 at the opening,
declared it 'open to the people for ever and ever' and
characterised it as 'a palace of pleasure and imagination.' The
idea of creating a museum for the people of the east end went back
as far as 1866, but it was only in 1889 that planning began in
earnest. The city fathers were influenced by the success of
the Kibble Palace which had been installed in the Botanic Gardens
in 1873 providing a similar leisure space for the west end of the
city. The City engineer, A. B. McDonald produced the
Renaissance-influenced design in red sandstone and the spacious
steel-framed winter garden and work started in 1894.
There were reading and recreation rooms on the ground floor, a
museum on the first floor and an art gallery above it. This
combination of facilities was very much in tune with
Victorian aspirations to provide working class people with
opportunities for self improvement and decorous, sober leisure
activity. The sculpted figures on the balustrade can be identified
from the objects they hold as Shipbuilding, Mathematics and
Science, Sculpture, Painting, Engineering and Textiles, while above
them on the attic story, a seated figure of Progress flanked by
Science and The Arts, sums up the scheme.
The People's Palace is now a museum exploring aspects of the
life of ordinary Glaswegians from the mid 18th century to the
present day. Several displays relate to life around the Green,
including steamies (communal wash houses), political banners and
popular entertainment (rallies and demonstrations as well as
Glasgow Fair traditionally took place on the Green) and crime and
punishment (Justiciary Courthouse and
executions).
Also at Glasgow Green (Back to listing)