Talk: Southside House Histories – ‘Strange Affray at Crosshill’: architecture and social mobility in late 19th-century Glasgow
This special #SouthGlasgowHeritageNights talk on Thursday 19th October focuses on Dr Ailsa Boyd’s research related to her own house in the Southside of Glasgow by tracing the histories of architect Robert Duncan (c.1840-1928) and the Battersby family.
Free but places are limited – BOOK HERE.
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When researching my own home in the Southside of Glasgow, I discovered that one of the first people to live in it had been the perpetrator of a fatal incident in 1897. After looking further into the family’s story, I discovered a fascinating tale of social mobility, from poverty in the industrial Gorbals to middle-class comfort in Pollokshields and a doctor’s surgery in the turreted tenements of Parkhead Cross.
The Battersby family exemplify the social, economic and educational developments of the late nineteenth century, with six of the children, including girls, benefitting from a university education. But my semi-detached house is just one location in a network of built heritage across Glasgow.
The architect was Robert Duncan (c.1840-1928), little known today, but he designed some of Glasgow’s most distinctive buildings. Not only did he build streets of terraces and tenements around Crosshill, but villas, churches, warehouses, a hospital, Cooper’s grocers and the building best known as the Locarno ballroom. People like the Battersbys and Duncan created the Victorian and Edwardian Glasgow still evident in the built heritage which we walk past every day.
– Dr Ailsa Boyd
The talk will be followed by a short Q&A
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Dr Ailsa Boyd is an independent writer and lecturer in 19th century art, design and literature, with a particular interest in the decoration of the homes we live in and imagined spaces.
Website: https://ailsaboyd.wordpress.com
Threads: @ailsaboyd@threads.net
TICKETS
Book your tickets on Eventbrite
VENUE: The Deepend Govanhill Baths Community Trust, 21 Nithsdale St, Glasgow, G41 2PZ
EVENT TIMINGS:
6.50pm – Doors Open / Registration
7pm – Welcome & Main Presentation: Southside House Histories – ‘Strange Affray at Crosshill’
8.15 – Ends
[Header image: 96-100 Dixon Avenue Glasgow. Photograph: Ailsa Boyd 2021]
English
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