Documents

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• Type

  Map

  Title

  Map for Former Fire and Police Station buildings, 52 and 52B Allison Street (52 Allison Court), 84 and 86 Craigie Street and 6 Allison Place, Glasgow (LB33542)

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600039746)

Summary

Description

Built in 1896-7 (1896 datestone) by Alexander Beith McDonald, City Engineer for Glasgow, as a police station (facing east along Craigie Street and facing south along Allison Place) and fire station (facing north along Allison Street). The buildings are designed in a Scots Baronial style, with the eaves line broken by pediments and crow stepped gables. It is constructed of stugged and snecked ashlar stone with polished dressings with slate roofs. There is a communal courtyard garden to the rear of the former fire and police station buildings. The fire station was converted to residential flats in around 1990, the police station converted to flats in 1994.

The former police station is three-storeys in height. The Craigie Street elevation is roughly symmetrical with a crowstepped three-bay centre (inner door, flanking bays corbelled out above ground floor) with two bays to the right and four bays to left. The terminal bays are also crow-stepped. Single/mullioned windows, glazing with small-paned upper sashes. There is a city crest over the former main entrance. The Allison Place elevation is seven bays wide with a large, chamfered corner bay.

The former fire station is four storeys high and four bays wide with arched openings to the ground floor (two fire engine openings have been infilled to form windows). There are band courses below the first and second floor levels and a bracketed chimneystack between the second and third bays. A city crest is in the gable apex of the third bay.

Built around 1938 by Thomas Somers, City Engineer, the three-storey, corner range attached to the east elevation of the former fire station was built as additional accommodation for the fire station's crew. It is three bays wide to Allison Street and four bays wide to Craigie Street. The building is of stugged sandstone block to the ground floor with ashlar quoins and margins and a raised band course between the ground and first floors, and of red brick construction above with wallhead chimneystacks over blank strips of walling. The Allison Street elevation has a recessed arch in the leftmost bay.

Statement of Special Interest

The Scots Baronial-style Queen's Park fire station and police building was designed by the Glasgow City Engineer, Alexander Beith McDonald (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). The buildings were purpose-built for the site (which is shown as a clear site on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1892-3). Built by Robert Murdoch, contractor for the mason, the police and fire station buildings opened in 1896. The police station included 14 cells, court hall, Magistrate's room, Doctor's room, Detective's department, accommodation for married constables, mortuary, stable, dog room and van shed (Southern Press, May 1895; Glasgow Herald, 1896). The four-storey fire station included an engine room and waiting room at street level, open court, stable, wash houses and crew accommodation to the upper floors (Southern Press, May 1895). A street-lighting department also operated from the new buildings (Southern Press, February 1895). This range of buildings included an open court to the rear for police and fire vehicles and mustering purposes (Southern Press, May 1895).

The city's fire stations constructed between the 1880s and early-1900s had been built and designed for horse-drawn fire engines and many of them required modernisation or complete replacement by the 20^th century. In December 1938, the red-brick accommodation block was added to the Queen's Park fire station by Thomas Somers who followed McDonald in the City Engineer role (Sunday Mail).

The fire station closed in 1986, and the police station closed in 1990. The buildings were converted to flatted dwellings in the early 1990s and now include some later infill and extensions. To the rear, the low light-coloured brick ranges and the fire practice tower (40 feet high) by McDonald were all demolished around 1990.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2025. Previously listed as '84 AND 86 CRAIGIE STREET, 52 ALLISON STREET (52 ALLISON COURT) AND 2-6 (EVEN NOS) ALLISON PLACE'.

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

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