Whistler’s mom stayed home, but Whistler thrives here in Scotland. James Abbott McNeill Whistler may have been an American artist, but he was fond of Glasgow, and now the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Art Gallery displays the world’s second-largest collection of his work (the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C., has the largest). This is the first hint that Glasgow exceeds expectations.
Glasgow’s reputation, like Chicago’s, still suffers from past sins. Al Capone no longer rules Chicago and the smokestack no longer dominates Glasgow. Most travelers visiting Scotland head for Edinburgh or the Highlands. The most they might see of Glasgow is its efficient, friendly airport. The immigration inspectors actually smile and offer a hearty welcome.
Even a brief visit to Glasgow will convince you that the city may have more art galleries per capita than most other cities. Three major art museums and numerous small galleries serve the city’s 750,000 or so inhabitants. Glasgow also claims more park land per person than any other city in Europe.
Glasgow earned its sooty reputation in the vanguard of the industrial revolution. As shipbuilder to the British Empire, it launched the famed Cunard Queens, including the QE2. On final approach to the airport, if you’re seated on the right side of the plane, you’ll see the large John Brown shipyard sheds. These were the birthplace of the world’s greatest ships. Now they decay quietly, although some shipbuilding continues.
As most of the cranes and mills fell silent, Glasgow ceased burning the soft coal that blackened its face. In 1960 a layer of black soot masked nearly every building in Glasgow. The first response was to destroy and rebuild. Soon wiser heads prevailed, although much urban renewal had damaged the world’s greatest collection of Victorian architecture.
Even on the short taxi ride in from the airport you’ll realize Glasgow is extraordinary on the level of such cities as Prague. Tenements may equal slums in American vernacular, but in Glasgow they are desirable 19th Century row houses. Originally built as worker and middle-class flats, they are sought after by present middle- and upper middle-class residents for their sturdy construction and superior soundproofing.
These tenements come in two varieties of sandstone, a grayish tan and red. You can tell the age of the tan buildings by the kitchen windowsills. The more worn and beveled the sill, the older the building. Glasgow residents sharpened their knives on these sills for decades.
At Coatbridge, about 20 minutes by taxi or train from the city center, is a more traditional museum, Summerlee Heritage Trust. This 200-acre museum, still under construction, documents Glasgow’s industrial past with working machinery, a functioning old tram car, and even an authentic re-creation of a coal mine. If you have any interest in machinery, Summerlee is a treat. It’s built on the grounds of a former iron smelter, including the main building and some of its implements. The site is romantically rustic, not at all as slick and organized as most museums. Call 011-44-236-431261 for directions.
The Kirklee Hotel, 11 Kensington Gate (phone 011-44-41-334-5555 or fax 011-44-41-339-3828), is a well-preserved Victorian Mansion in the West End near the Glasgow University campus. Proprietor Peter Steven could easily play a doting uncle on “Masterpiece Theatre.” The Kirklee, a bed-and-breakfast hotel, serves breakfast in your room. A single room is about $60 and a double about $80.
It’s on a quiet side street, but it’s close to shops and museums, and the Hillhead Underground stop. It takes 75 cents and 10 minutes to reach the city center by Underground. It’s impossible to take the wrong train, since the Underground is a single circular subway with trains running in both directions. It’s the oldest underground passenger tunnel in the world, but it was totally rebuilt in the late 1970s during a general Glasgow spruce-up. The tiny almost toylike modern trains retain their traditional orange color from which comes the nickname of the Clockwork Orange.
Within a 20-minute walk from the Kirklee are the Hunterian Art Gallery, with its attached Charles Rennie Mackintosh house, the Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove, and the Museum of Transport, along with several smaller galleries. Mackintosh was a Scottish Frank Lloyd Wright, but also a more general artist who created some of finest examples of Art Nouveau. The Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove combines an art gallery and natural history museum. Even without its contents, the red sandstone building is magnificent with its turrets, spires and ornamentation, and its great hall.
Alone by itself in the woods of Pollock Country Park, about 15 minutes and $10 dollars by taxi from the Kirklee, is The Burrell Collection. Sir William Burrell, a wealthy shipping magnate who collected art for more than 50 years, willed his extensive collection of Eastern and European art to the city of Glasgow. It came with the stipulation that the city house it in a rural setting in a worthy building. The airy glass and timber building, opened in 1983, shows off much of its collection in natural daylight. One of the first works to greet you is a version of Rodin’s “The Thinker.” The collection covers a period from A.D. 800 to the present. Sculpture, tapestries, pottery, painting, engravings and armor fill The Burrell.
The tourists are swarming around Edinburgh, less than 50 miles away, so you’ll face few crowds of foreign tourists in Glasgow. On nice days many of the locals are out improving their handicaps at one of the scores of golf courses around the city.
Not only is Glasgow inexpensive for lodging and food, everything worth seeing is free. All Glasgow museums and public galleries are free.
Another surprising fact about Glasgow is its proximity to Chicago. Flying time to Glasgow, at a few minutes more than seven hours, is less than to Honolulu.
For further information on Glasgow, contact the Greater Glasgow Tourist Board, 39 St. Vincent Place, Glasgow (011-44-41-204-4480; fax 011-44-41-204-4772). In the U.S., contact the British Tourist Authority, 625 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.; 312-787-0490.
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Glasgow prides itself on being accessible to the disabled. Most public buildings have ramps and/or elevators, except for a very few where modification would destroy the history or architecture, such as the Tenement House Museum. All museums discussed in this article are accessible. However, the upper floors of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh house and the coal mine at Summerslee are inaccessible to the disabled. The Kirklee is not accessible.
The famous black taxi cabs (which are cavernous inside) and the newer Metro Cabs welcome the disabled and its drivers are trained to assist them. The Glasgow Underground is largely accessible. However, you should call 41-226-4826 to check the arrangements for each station, and for assistance.
