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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
David McLean

Glasgow High Street's forgotten 'castle' that was razed to the ground in the 1970s

When it comes to the destruction of historic landmarks around Glasgow, the post-war era definitely has a lot to answer for - not least on the High Street.

In the 1970s the famous thoroughfare lost a building that to the untrained eye looked as if it had stood for centuries.

Designed to resemble a medieval castle, the Hydraulic Power Works at the corner of High Street and Rottenrow cut a fine figure indeed for what was essentially a district pumping station.

READ MORE: 11 of Glasgow's lost pubs that locals would love to see reopen again

Perhaps taking a leaf out of the book of the then recently-opened Templeton Carpet Factory on Glasgow Green, the façade of which had been inspired by Doge's Palace in Venice, the fortress-like building was completed in 1895 for the Corporation Water Department and played a vital a role in the city's continued growth and modernisation at the end of the 19th century.

The pumping station's rustic exterior certainly belied its true age and function. Concealed behind its red stone ashlar crenellations lay three inverted vertical compound engines, each with 2,000 horsepower, and two large cast-iron storage tanks.

Paid for by private subscription, the station supplied high-pressure water to properties around the centre of the city for the operation of lifts, presses and other devices, as well as serving premises on higher ground. It was truly a marvel of the age.

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The esteemed Renfrewshire civil engineer Sir William Arrol attended the pumping station's opening ceremony, where he emphasised the importance of the new works.

Heaping praise on the state-of-the-art system, Arrol said: "No greater work of commerce [than this] has been undertaken in Glasgow since the opening of Loch Katrine water works.

"In a great commercial city like Glasgow it is only by trade and commerce we can hope to prosper and hold our own in the keen and severe competition in which we are engaged throughout the whole world.

"Nothing will help more to that end than the introduction of high-pressure water."

By the turn of the 20th century, the facility was supplying late Victorian Glasgow with more than 202,141 imperial gallons of high-pressure water through 30 miles of pipes.

The High Street water works would continue to operate until 1964, when the facility was replaced by a new generation of pumping stations dotted around the city.

Sadly, a new lease of life could not be found for the vacant works and Glasgow's Victorian 'castle' was demolished in 1973. Only a small portion of the original retaining wall remains.

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