Today, I opened volume 38 of Vernacular Building, the annual journal of the Scottish Vernacular Building Group. The first thing to catch my eye was a familiar drawing on the front cover of houses which used to stand on Stirling's Broad Street, till demolished in the 1920s.
On opening the volume I found an interesting article by John R Hume entitled 'Houses in Broad Street, Stirling' pp. 99-115.
The article is a 'must read' for anyone interested in the Scots urban vernacular and particularly, of course, for myself, who have written about parts of this row of houses in the past (indeed, John cites one of my papers).
Most of these houses, sad to say,were demolished in the 1920s, though some facades etc remain further up the street.
John says;
"Even in its altered state, the north side of Broad Street is one of the finest ensembles of burgh buildings in Scotland and the photographs suggest that before the 1924 demolitions it could claim to be the very finest, both in terms of the quality and interest of the individual buildings and of the ensemble as a whole."
This is not a judgement I am likely to dispute!
I wish I could be confident that such destruction was safely in the past. But, with the demolition of Forthside House just a few years ago and the creation of intrusive 'hard standing' on a green field right below Stirling Castle, such confidence would be misplaced!
On opening the volume I found an interesting article by John R Hume entitled 'Houses in Broad Street, Stirling' pp. 99-115.
The article is a 'must read' for anyone interested in the Scots urban vernacular and particularly, of course, for myself, who have written about parts of this row of houses in the past (indeed, John cites one of my papers).
Most of these houses, sad to say,were demolished in the 1920s, though some facades etc remain further up the street.
John says;
"Even in its altered state, the north side of Broad Street is one of the finest ensembles of burgh buildings in Scotland and the photographs suggest that before the 1924 demolitions it could claim to be the very finest, both in terms of the quality and interest of the individual buildings and of the ensemble as a whole."
This is not a judgement I am likely to dispute!
I wish I could be confident that such destruction was safely in the past. But, with the demolition of Forthside House just a few years ago and the creation of intrusive 'hard standing' on a green field right below Stirling Castle, such confidence would be misplaced!
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