Gallus Glasgow J: Jordanhill

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David Stow Building, Jordanhill
David Stow Building, Jordanhill

Jordanhill – what can I say? I arrived there in 1990 to work in Jordanhill College Library (later part of Strathclyde University), a job which I thought I might do for two years or so. Twenty two years later, I had the sad job of closing the library down when the University decided to centralise on one campus. Ah well, life goes on and I look back with happy memories (helped by the fact that I documented the closure pretty thoroughly on social media) but no regrets.

Those memories came in handy last year. There aren’t many “J”s to choose from in Glasgow, and Rosemary Cunningham has also used Jordanhill for her (extremely gallus) Glasgow Alphabet. When she was creating the map to go with it, she wanted to talk to one person from each place – and there I am, quoted on the back of it. Fame!

Glasgow Alphabet map
Glasgow Alphabet map

Part of the campus had been sold off for housing some years before closure and now the rest of it is up for sale. The three original buildings, including the David Stow above, will be converted into apartments and the rest will be flattened for new build. I recently took a nostalgic walk to the old place to see it again before it becomes unrecognisable, and will blog about that after the challenge.

The next A to Z post, K, is on Monday when I’ll take you to the river.

A to Z Challenge 2015, Scotland, UK , , ,

50 Comments »

  1. Managed to avoid attending more than 2 days a week by enlisting for the post-grad Dip. Ed up at the Uny. Was the only one who attended the RE lecture at Jordanhill. Maybe it was because I elected to term myself a ‘Wee Free’ just to see what they would say!
    I was treated to a lecture all to myself!

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  4. Oh my, I can’t believe they closed it down! That library is stunning – I would have spent every bit of spare time I had in there, I love beautiful old libraries. It’s such a shame that everything is about money rather than preserving something beautiful like that building.

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    • The library had actually moved out of that main building many years before, one of the ones to be demolished. The main building will be apartments, but I suspect only the facade might survive. Very sad.

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    • Well, that was the main college building, and it does have a beautiful entrance hall and staircase. The library used to be there but was latterly in a much less beautiful building that I’m sure you wouldn’t regret at all!

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  9. You must’ve been at Jordanhill when I was studying there then! I was there from 2004-2008 and lived in the Halls of Residence on campus for the first year (Graham House). Part of the reason why I chose to go to Strathclyde University was because of the incredible campus and it makes me so sad to think that it’s not there any more (even if I can kind of understand the logic of moving all into the centre).

    Cait @ Click’s Clan

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  10. It’s sad to hear of a library closing, but even sadder to hear the whole campus is being almost wiped out. I get this feeling that libraries and schools should be sacred.

    You can find me here:
    ClarabelleRant

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  11. Sounds like a wonderful place to work so you were very lucky for a number of years. But still so sad to have a wonderful work place close. I have a friend (from library school) who just lost her job because the law school she was a librarian for is being merged into another law school. Even as a public librarian, I had to deal with mergers (city library became part of the county).

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    • Yes, it happens all the time here too. One of the reasons I left the job before that, in a public library, was that the council was about to be merged into a bigger one and when that happens you could end up anywhere.

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  17. Oh, what a lovely building…Will stay tuned for your blog from your walk there … Can imagine it must have been bittersweet. Anyways always makes me sad to hear about libraries shutting down… Maybe because books have always been “close friends”… In India I was involved in building up a library in the NGO – so amazing to see the joy of those kids being able to borrow a book for the first time….

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  19. That must have been tough, to let that job go after more than twenty years. A lot of marriages don’t last that long!

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  20. Awww… I wish they would just restore the whole thing! It’s so beautiful. I’d certainly love to live there. 😦

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  21. I can barely believe this. Places like this should be defended with teeth and claws. I can’t believe anyone can think to ‘flatten’ them down.
    Makes me shiver…

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    • Actually, the buildings they are going to flatten are nowhere near as attractive as this one – 60s/70s stuff. But I can’t imagine how they are going to fit in the number of houses they say they will. The whole thing makes me personally very sad because I have great affection for the place, but it’s all about making money.

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