The incredible Tait Tower - Glasgow Empire Exhibition Tower of 1938

[editor]

How amazing was this tower?

• The Glasgow Empire Exhibition Tower was built for Empire Exhibition in Glasgow and opened by King George the VI as the centrepiece of the sprawling park built with the support of Sir James Lithgow and Cecil Weir.
• Thanks to the backers, the architect was able to draw on steel industry of Glasgow and have the entire structure built in prefabricated form to his design. Once this was done it was possible to erect the tower in only nine weeks.
• Running up the inside of the central steel structure were two lift shafts. These conveyed 1,312,392 paying visitors before the tower was shut.
• It was demolished as part of the preparation for World War 2 in 1939 following concerns it would act as a marker for approaching bombers.

Tech details:
Status - Demolished
Proposal date- 1937
Construction start date- 1938
Completion date - 1938
Renovation Date - 1939
Style - Art Deco
Roof Height (AGL) - 91.44
Number of Lifts2

More: http://www.empireexhibition1938.co.uk/html/towerOfEmpire.html

 

[editor]

It looked great - an art deco masterpiece!

 

[Belushi]

It was a fantastic building - should be rebuilt!

 

[newbie]

built in 1938, renovated in 1939 and then demolished in 1939 just in case. isn't that a euphemism for it fell over?

 

[Superdupastupor]

This came up briefly in a History lecture a few weeks ago !

There are lines of sight in Glasgow where you can see about 7 different styles of architecture all built round one another

 

[editor]

Looks like it was a clear influence on the later Trellick Tower:

 

[Superdupastupor]

oh yeah meant to say- the shape of the tower is meant to be inspired by the outline of the shape of Scotland

 

[equationgirl]

Now all we have is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Glasgow_Tower_-_geograph.org.uk_-_205705.jpg

and it doesn't even work:
http://www.gsc.org.uk/glasgowtower.aspx

 

[editor]

That's well underwhelming.

 

[equationgirl]

That's well underwhelming.

It is, it got shut on 'an extended basis' when a group of VIP visitors got stuck soon after it reopened the last time. Huge waste of money.

 

[pogofish]

I have a memory of Pat Lally promoting a campaign from the late 80s, through to the mid 90s to have the Tait Tower rebuilt as a centrepiece for Glasgow's European City of Architecture year (late 90s/early 00s?).

Sadly, not even good-old Lazarus could pull this one off, although some of his other schemes did bear-fruit, eg Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (or Lally Palais as many folk know it)

 

[Lucy Fur]

Proper Beautiful. Heres a pic of it with a circus in front

 

[Fedayn]

I used to live in between the new science tower and where the old tower stood. Both in Govan, the science tower on the quayside and the empire tower in Bellahouston Park a 5 minute walk from my old flat. The Palace of Art is all that remains pretty much.

There was a football competition to celebrate the event, the Empire Exhibition Cup. The trophy was a replica of the tower. Aberdeen, Brentford, Celtic, Chelsea, Everton, Hearts, Rangers and Sunderland. Contested the cup, Celtic won the trophy beating Everton 1-0 in the final.

 

[Crispy]

I wouldn't call it Art Deco. Art Deco is identified by its decorative nature - usually geometric or figurative representations of natural themes. The Tait Tower is modernist, or even Russian Constructivist: Its main themes are intersecting planes and volumes, in industrial materials.

 

[pogofish]

While we are on the subject of lost Glasgow - It may be worth remembering Renfrew Airport:

http://www.myrenfrew.com/renaviation.htm

One of or even arguably the first truly modern airport - Renfrew established the feeder/hub system with Croydon and later Heathrow Airports for international flights that all others now follow.

It operated until the current Glasgow Airport opened in 1966 and its runway is now the nearby straight section of the M8.

Despite being designed to be capable of being fully dismantled and reused, the terminal itself was abandoned and survived until the late 70s IIRC. I remember seeing it in stripped-out/gutted form as a kid in the early 70s. Glasgow at the time regarded it as a bit of an embarrassment and several plans to relocate the structure for other purposes died a death. Eventually, it was razed and a Tesco shed was built on the site - A small monument and some tiny fragments of apron/taxiway in a nearby school/playing fields are all that mark its passing.

http://exceptthekylesandwesternisles.blogspot.com/2009/12/renfrew-airport-that-disappeared.html

 

[editor]

I wouldn't call it Art Deco. Art Deco is identified by its decorative nature - usually geometric or figurative representations of natural themes. The Tait Tower is modernist, or even Russian Constructivist: Its main themes are intersecting planes and volumes, in industrial materials.

It's probably more modernist, but I'd definitely say there's some elements of Art Deco in there.

It brings to mind this Art Deco classic, for example (least it does in my head):

 

[equationgirl]

There's something New York about the Tait Tower, perhaps the Art Deco/modernism of it, perhaps the scale. Much of Glasgow city centre reminds me of some of New York's architecture.

Ed - if you've never taken photos in Glasgow, there's lot here for you to document (did I mention the abandoned urban railway network?).