Wandering around some old haunts that I seldom see from the 'Familiarity Breeds Contempt' viewpoint, I found some that fell into the categories of Expected, Disappointing, and Surprising (and also Disappointing). Some might of interest to the Captain to go grab some pics - or I can do larger originals by  email if desired.

First was a wander through some of the back  street of Baillieston to avoid the main road traffic for a change. This spits you out just short of the former two school sites, and I spotted the old dining huts at St Bridget's were getting the chop. One time home of pink and yellow custard, and maggot filled meatballs - well, I don't know what the heck was in them, maybe it was grains of rice sticking out! However, school caramel cake seems to have been a favourite for everyone, and I even saw grocer's in Shettleston selling the delicacy in recent times.

These huts presumably date back to the war, so possibly had some sort of historic interest. I wonder if they were recorded in any way before being trashed, or were just swept away as 'old rubbish', and without a thought as to their past?



Next up was the gap site left by the demolition of one of the local petrol stations. Looking at the site, and the fact that the big board says this is for Retail Office Development, rather than the usual Luxury Flats, it seems a little unusual that the developer didn't go a little further and make the little unit to the left an offer, offering them the pick of new build, and get the whole area. Maybe the offer wasn't good enough.



The last one was a bit of a shock, and really disappointing as it represents the loss of a Victorian, sandstone mansion that was obviously not derelict, and serving as guest house until it vanished from the face of the earth. I'm guessing that the disappearance of this building, and it must be said a number of similar mansions nearby, is further proof of the insanity that makes it more economic for a developer to raze such building and fill a site with new build, rather refurbish. Paradoxically, over the past few years, quite a few of the neighbouring houses have been purchased by obviously well-heeled owners who have had the foresight to to acquire them, and have created luxury, period mansions for themselves, incorporating 'all mod cons'.

I'll dig the pics out of "The Wonderful Filing System"  

The huts could perhaps pre-date the school, being on the road and in their own little bit of ground?

Any online info about the school? For some reason, the style never threw any date at me, and the prewar/postwar bit is intriguing.

This is what the school looks like, it is very interesting, being a pentagon, like the er... um... we... Pentagon

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?zoom=7#map=55.85325,-4.11149|20|32&loc=GB:55.84994:-4.10827:19||

How about the old church located here...

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?zoom=7#map=55.85003,-4.10829|19|32&loc=GB:55.84994:-4.10827:19||

It looks abandoned and deserted now. I noticed the general atmosphere of 'dead' when I passed it the other day, and couldn't recall if it was always like this, and was no longer in use, or if was a recent closure, and worth a pic or two - I don't have any, at the moment.

Yep, you hit the nail on the head, on the one hand it has much Art Deco feel, which would be explained by its origins in prewar design, but the realisation of the the build, possibly in the materials, fixtures, fitting, finish etc seem to be slightly (but not a lot) at odds with its roots, and this would be explained by the postwar build, using later items to realise the earlier design.

I don't know if it comes across in the pics (which you hopefully have by now), but the rendering on the huts is possibly a later addition, and not original.

As the demolition was in progress, it was falling off cleanly in sheets that showed it had never actually adhered to the walls it covered, and had only stayed in place by virtue of its own thickness. The interesting aspect was that of the gable end facing into Camp St, where it appeared that there might have been some signage visible on the wall. You can just about make it out in the fourth pic, and it might ring a bell with you if you saw the huts unclad.

I clipped this from one of the full-size pics sent to the Captain...



I didn't notice it at the time, my eye had been caught by what appeared to be lettering being revealed as the rendering fell off, and I'd been trying to work out if any more could be see, but at the right is a musical notation, which ties in with the story about the 'Disco Nights' of the 70s.

Does it trigger any reminder of what might be written under the rendering?

I'll stick my neck out and go for... D I S C O

Looks like one of the original huts wasn't included, and it seems to be a store attached to the church hall at the end of the road.

Nothing replaced the old huts, so maybe they just suffered demolition under classification as "eyesores".

On an earlier note, you'll see a pic a few post above showing a gap site that used to be a petrol station that has a big sign declaring it to be a forthcoming office/business development. Guess, what? It's still a gap.



Also passed the old Bellevue guest house site recently too, and work is well underway.

The front uses all the space available, and the developer has expanded the back to squeeze as much as possible into the wider space available there too...





Maybe they'll be done and dusted next time I pass.

Quoted from Apollo

Looks like one of the original huts wasn't included, and it seems to be a store attached to the church hall at the end of the road.

Nothing replaced the old huts, so maybe they just suffered demolition under classification as "eyesores".

As luck would have it I only came across a press report today on the huts.
Built by the Ministry of Food in 1942 as a emergency cooking depot they were handed over to Lanarkshire County Council Education Committee after 1945 and were used to cook school dinners. I ate mine from food cooked there.