IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Shuna Street, GLASGOW, G20 9QR

Seen across the canal are these ugly modern houses.

The design of these modern residential blocks (viewed here from the Forth and Clyde Canal towpath) is apparently influenced by the Dutch artist the complex is named after. Is this a landmark exercise in gentrification or a future ghetto?

Category C listed building, built for Glasgow Lead and Colour Works (Alexander Ferguson and Company) in 1874.

This delightful V shaped building with frontages to Ruchill Street and to the Forth & Clyde Canal was built circa 1874 and was the Glasgow Lead & Colour Works of Alexander, Fergusson & Co. The works was still in use in 1967 but the replacement of lead-based paints by less toxic paints resulted in its closure in the 1980s. Listed, category C, with details at: http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB33752

This category C listed former workshop (LB33752) was built c.1874 and is currently on Historic Scotland's Buildings at Risk register.

This is a view over a branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal, looking towards the buildings of Shuna Crescent. These are part of a colourful new housing development whose look is inspired by the later works of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (see Image). When this photograph was taken, construction was still taking place elsewhere on the site. - - • - - As noted at Image, this new development is on land that had formerly been occupied by industrial buildings. Early OS maps show that, at the end of the nineteenth century, the area of this housing development was the location of (from west to east) a chemical works, a rubber works, a gold extracting works, and Caledonia Foundry. The "chemical works" was Glasgow Lead and Colour Works; see https://canmore.org.uk/site/259600/glasgow-50-56-ruchill-street-glasgow-lead-and-colour-works (at Canmore) for images. The "rubber works" was Glasgow Rubber Works, established by George McLellan and Co., and shown on later OS maps as "Glasgow Rubber and Asbestos Works". See https://canmore.org.uk/site/127638/glasgow-125-129-shuna-street-glasgow-rubber-works (at Canmore) for images and for further details. The "gold extracting works" was operated by the Cassel Gold Extracting Company, and used the MacArthur-Forrest process, or "cyanide process"; the use of this process to extract gold from low-quality ore was then new. The company had acquired patent rights to this process, but these would prove to be the subject of much litigation. An OS map from 1913 shows that the works had expanded to the north-east; on that map, the site is labelled "Cassel Cyanide Works". The last of the above-mentioned works was Caledonia Foundry; this was operated by Kerr and Co., Ltd. See https://canmore.org.uk/site/174589/glasgow-35-9-shuna-street-caledonia-foundry (at Canmore) for images of the foundry building. The company had earlier been based at Firhill.

Seen from the Ruchill Street bridge. The building on the left was built for Glasgow Lead and Colour Works (Alexander Ferguson and Company) about 1874. It is Category C listed http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB33752.

The bridge is a modern structure from the early 21st century when the canal was re-opened. The original was a small lifting bridge, replaced by a piped culvert under the improved roadway. The building on the right is the former offices of Alexander, Fergusson & Company’s Glasgow Lead and Colour Works, built 1874, Listed Category C http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB33752 .

The workshops were built for Glasgow Lead and Colour Works (Alexander Ferguson and Company) about 1874. The building is Category C listed http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB33752.

An interpretative notice nearby tells passers-by that the Glasgow Rubber Works stood on the far side of the canal here. The late 19th century six-inch map, however, reveals that in addition to the rubber works there were the Caledonia Foundry, a chemical works (on the site of the red brick building), saw mills and a lead and colour works, presumably where paint was manufactured.