St Peter's Seminary at Cardross seems to be getting a lot of visitors these days.

Leon McDermott reports: "I went up to St Peter's Seminary today with my dad; he spent lots of summer holiday time in Cardross when he was a kid in the 50s, and when I told him about the Gillespie, Kidd & Coia building, he had to go and visit it. Anyway, we went up there, took lots of photos (it's amazing how the building's serene and calm characteristics still remain, despite the dereliction and the graffiti), and I did some Googling on the place when I got back home, and while I was rooting about, I found this article from the Scotsman:

"During St Peter's brief heyday, film-maker Murray Grigor made a short documentary, Space and Light, about the college and will feature the ruin in the television series he is currently making with Scotland's best-known actor-in-exile, under the working title, Sean Connery's Scotland. Says Grigor: "What I'd very much like to do now is revisit the place and make a new film of it, then have the building come back to life."

"Grigor regards the present situation as "absolutely tragic. It's one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century and we've got it as a ruin. It would be heroic for someone like Historic Scotland to think about restoring it. It's interesting that the Catholic Church in Scotland was so progressive and produced all these extraordinary buildings." He laughs, recalling the priest who told him that St Peter's had been built under the influence of "le Courvoisier"."

The full article is at: http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/s2.cfm?id=439212003

As for the hints that St Peter's is going to be renovated, I can't see it, from what I saw at the weekend; everything was still woefully derelict, and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years. On the upside, almost, I'm in the middle of preparing a big post about St Peter's on the weblog that myself and a friend of mine run; I'm just waiting for the photos I took to come back from processing. The address is http://www.submitresponse.co.uk

Then Leon goes and spoils it all by saying: "I'm not with you on Basil Spence's Gorbals tower blocks. Looked nice, horrible to live in, as several of my friends have attested."

Jack Mottram informs us that: "me and a couple of other folk are putting together a little gallery of photos we took of St. Peter's Seminary this weekend (http://www.submitresponse.co.uk/ seminary/). Only a couple of my inept snaps with a Lomo camera are up so far, but the work of more skilled photographers, using proper cameras will be online by... well, soonish."

This site inspired me to buy my own Lomo camera, it's that good. A sample is above.

Dougie Ferguson tells me that the Anderston Centre, the subject of a major project on which he is engaged, is about to disappear. Dalriada — the westerly housing block — is due to be demolished in late 2004, with the Davaar and Colombia blocks to follow soon after.

There may still be time to protest — the Royal Fine Art Commission report on the Centre thinks it's worth saving — but given Glasgow's appalling record of destruction, it's likely these pictures will soon be all that's left to enjoy.

Dalriada is on the right. Click here for more pictures.

G L A S G O W -+ -A R C H I T E C T U R E

Here's a lovely image from Adrian Welch's Glasgow Architecture site. He's far more up-to-date with the news than I am, so it's well worth bookmarking for regular visits.

The ultimate joy of concrete

Every schoolboy's dream has come true, for me at least. This is my old school, the John Neilson in Paisley, recently reduced to a pile of rubble. Pity it's several years (well, decades really) too late.

Regular readers will be dying to know how the redevelopment of the Art Deco cinema on Great Western Road is coming along (see story at the bottom of this page).

Well, if 'redevelopment' means knocking most of it down, then swimmingly, it would appear. Two columns, a bit of arch and a huge hole in the ground are all that remain.

Hope someone goes round to 'redevelop' the redevelopers houses sometime.

Look at this proposed development of flats which would finally complete a row in the Park Circus area of Glasgow which the Victorians never got round to finishing. Lovely, isn't it?

Not if you're Glasgow (UK City of Architecture 1999) councillors Patricia Chalmers or John Mason, Historic Scotland or one of the four heritage bodies mentioned in the Scotsman report on 1 August. Chalmers and Mason seem to think that it does not fit with rest of the area because it doesn't look Victorian. JoC would love to see if the councillors' own homes are so meticulously consistent - if Victorian, do they have gas lighting, for example.

Fortunately, these fools were ignored by Ronald Davey, chairman of the development and regeneration services sub-committee, and building should begin in October. Even Davey sounded a bit lukewarm about the Stewart Milne Homes development, though, saying only that it was the best scheme available.

JoC thinks it's the best scheme possible. More like this please.

In a shocking move which is a great loss to architectural criticism, Michael Gallagher no longer has his Ugly Tour of Glasgow website (which included Tay House, the monstrosity on the left).

Says Michael: "Sadly I no longer have any of the photos or files for that project. I am surprised no one else got round to finishing of the idea fully."

So, come on readers. Send in your best/worst pictures of Glaswegian architectural excess (postmodernism especially, of course) and I'll start a gallery. I may even award a prize for the most ridiculous entry.

It looks like Glasgow, despite the self-aggrandising rhetoric of the Glasgow 1999 UK City of Architecture committee, is still destroying its architectural heritage.

Christopher Greene wrote to say: "I agree that the recladding of Glasgow Airport was a simply a botched facelift. I understand a similar fate is to befall Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's King's Park Secondary School in October. There may still be time for a few before and after pics."

My father (hi, Dad!) was kind enough to nip round and take a few photos. I'm sure readers will agree that to stick a load of plastic cladding on this beautiful construction would be appalling. Does anyone know exactly what is to happen to it?

Click here for more pictures of the School