Architechture The Beresford

 

THE BERESFORD

On a recent visit to Glasgow this building caught my eye. It’s a very striking, recently renovated, Art Deco Building which stands proudly on a junction of Sauchiehall Street (famous for the Rennie Mackintosh tea house,’The Willow tea Rooms’).





Sauchiehall Street is one of Glasgows most famous streets, it’s right in the heart of the city and links the city centre with the older more bohemian West End.
It is a brilliant area to live, residents can usually walk anywhere within the city or use the network of underground trains.
The Beresford is now full of brand new apartments,  it’s a high quality conversion of one of Glasgows most impressive Art Deco buildings.
The building was originally built as ‘The Beresford Hotel’ in 1938, it’s ten storeys high,  was the tallest building erected in Glasgow between the wars and was described as Glasgows first skyscraper.
The hotel was first used for visitors to the Empire Exhibition, and then became a favourite
Stop over for American servicemen during the Second World War.

BERESFORD HOTEL / BAIRD HALL
Sauchihall Street / Garnet Street
Weddell & Inglis 1937-38

The Beresford Hotel is seen here not long after its opening in 1938. The Art Deco curved towers of the facade reflect the design found in many of Glasgow's cinemas of the 1930s.
The architect, William Beresford Inglis of Weddell & Inglis, was also the hotel's owner and managing director. After the war demand for hotel accommodation dropped off and for a while the building was used as an office block. The University of Strathclyde acquired it for student accommodation in 1964 and they renamed it Baird Hall.
In 2003 it was sold on from the university and work began on its re-conversion into private apartments.

Reference: Glasgow City Archives, D-CA 8/2962 Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning.

These images are from Glasgow when The Beresford Building was built, it just makes you realise what a remarkable building it must have been at the time.

 

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 25, '10 satshanti said I also love the lettering from the Thirties glad you like it, you did well to find this, its over a year old :-)

delete reply satshanti wrote on Apr 25, '10 I also love the lettering from the Thirties and imagine the Beresford name over the door was unique and stylish...

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Mar 14, '09, edited on Mar 14, '09 Art Deco style is so intriguing in all the art forms. There are quite a number of famous land-mark buildings in Melbourne, Victoria with the rounded features and soaring symmetry within the art deco style. They are works of art in themselves.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Mar 14, '09 Thanks for this bit of culture. I really enjoyed the video. BTW, at my university there's a Baird Hall.

delete reply joanna47 wrote on Mar 14, '09 What a terrific blog. Thank you for this. I love history and architecture and that music.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Mar 14, '09 dianahopeless said I got lost in the music on more than one occasion, and had to re-watch it. LOL Thanks Diana, the music is the proclaimers and if you like it there is more here http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/271/Song_saturday_The_Prolaimers

delete reply blondino01ontal9 wrote on Mar 14, '09 Beautiful blog Loretta .

delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Mar 14, '09 I love the restored look and the bold use of red on the building. While watching the video (which was great) I got lost in the music on more than one occasion, and had to re-watch it. LOL

delete reply starfishred wrote on Mar 14, '09 Would love to see the inside-I love Art Deco period- we had a lot of art deco in Basel then about 15yrs. ago they decided to tear a bunch down luckily people got together and we were able to save some 25 wonderful buildings but sadly about 10 were destroyed

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Mar 13, '09 What a great building and how wonderful to preserve it. I am quite fond of things Art Deco and am always pleased to see that the buildings are renovated and in use. Southern California and Florida have a lot of similar buildings.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Mar 13, '09 What a marvelous building! Very daring and striking.

Art, Architecture & interiors, Robert Adam

Robert Adam (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792).

 Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer, noted for his almost obsessive  attention to DETAIL.

 He was the son and apprentice of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's most famous architect of his time. He worked initially  with his older brother John, also an architect, and together they ran the family business started by their father. This business included work for the Board of Ordnance.

Starting in 1754 he left the family practice and spent almost five years travelling Europe and studying architecture. Amongst others he studied under Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Once back in Britain, rather than return to Scotland, he started a London practice with his younger brother James.

Here he developed the world famous "Adam Style", based on his observations of antiquity and ancient structures. He was very successful and held the post of

‘’Architect of the Kings Works from 1761–1769’’.

He is remembered as the greatest architect of the late 18th century and one of the most influential figures in European and North American Architecture. He lead the early stages of classical revivalism in England and Scotland between  1760 and  his death in 1792. A remarkably long ‘reign’ at the top!

His astounding success can attributed to his ability to design everything, from the outside in, down to the smallest detail. It was this attention to detail that made him different and allowed him to become one of the greatest architects Scotland has ever produced.

Entrance front of Hopetoun House, designed by William Adam and modified by the Adam Brothers

 

Kedleston Hall. The South front by Robert Adam, based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome

 

One of Adam's masterpieces: Pulteney Bridge, Bath

Details for Derby House in Grosvenor Square, an example of the Adam Brothers' decorative designs.

 

Syon House, A design for the hall by Robert and James Adam.

 

Dun House, Montrose, was built by Robert Adam and is not far from where I live. I visited it some time last year and here are the pictures.

 

And this is the information on Dun House.

http://www.aboutbritain.com/houseofdun.htm

 

Add a Comment

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Aug 31, '08 i love such architecture :)

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Aug 30, '08 This is just wonderful, the buildings are marvelous, but that interior work, wow! Having been to Bath, the image of the bridge is as fresh in my mind today, as it was over 30 years ago.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Aug 30, '08 Fantastic! I love architecture.

delete reply wickedlyinnocent wrote on Aug 30, '08 Thanks Loretta, I love those houses ( and the bridge, which I have already seen, Bath always reminds me of both Jane Austen and the Rialto like bridge), what a precious blog on the "Adam Style". Have a wonderful weekend, hugs.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Aug 30, '08 oh Lovely loretta when I was in school I wanted to be an architect so for a couple of years I took lots of these type of classes and in the process learned avout Adam he was wonderful thanks

Art, Painted houses of Africa

THE PAINTED HOUSES OF AFRICA

This is something I have had sat around on my hard drive in a half finished state for a month or so. I don’t even remember why I started it but the intent was always that it would end up here in a state that could pass as finished. When I first saw these pictures my immediate thought was ………wow………….quick find me a paint brush. Can you imagine getting up in the morning and doing a few more squares or patterns of some sort all over the front of your house!!

 

The art of decorating houses is known throughout Africa, but although some of the civilisations are ancient this art, practised in the form it is today is probably only a couple of hundred years old. Some academics believe what is practised today is the altered remains of an ancient tradition. Some decorative patterns seen more commonly on pottery and textiles today may have originated as traditional and even ceremonial   decorations on their ancestors houses. The idea that a regional style of decoration could be transferred from buildings to fabrics and then back is not such an outlandish idea. It would be one way of ensuring the continuation of a traditional culture, possibly in times when it was difficult for the people to paint directly onto their homes. This could have been in times of occupation or [possibly during a nomadic period of a peoples history. For example, among the Ndebele, the same type of brightly coloured and patterned ornamentation is found in clothing and house painting, but not usually on both through out the same period. Another reason for the recent popularity in painted houses could be to keep a tradition alive that was previously kept alive in traditional costume. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many African people began to wear western clothing which in preference over the traditional dress which had incorporated many cultural and   symbolic patterns.  

 

‘’ Research conducted by art historians Van Wyk and Mathews in the late-1980's and mid-1990's (culminating in two photographically-illustrated books titled African Painted Houses: Basotho Dwellings of Southern Africa (Van Wyk, 1998) and The African Mural (Chanquion & Matthews, 1989)), concludes that the art of Litema cannot be understood in purely aesthetic terms. According to these researchers decorations have symbolic meaning and religious connotations, specifically relating to the Basotho life and ancestors.’’

 

Van Wyk states

‘’ Basotho murals are a form of religious art relating to the beliefs concerning Basotho ancestors, the realm of the Basotho woman, earth, creation, beauty and fertility (both in the fields and in the home). Furthermore, he suggests that the colours of decorations themselves, have strong symbolic relevance and religious meaning, in some instances even making feminist and political statements’’

Once you start reading you realise there is quite a lot out there on these painted houses, I can really recommend you do a bit of research, it’s fascinating. One thing I must mention though, and it’s a bit sad, apparently this is now done in some cases just to attract the tourists and not for the joy of doing it. How sad.

 

SOURCES:

"House Decoration in Lower Nubia," Terence Walz. African Images: Essays in African Iconology. Daniel F. McCall, Edna G. Bay, eds. NY: Africana Publ Co, 1975. 190-222.

Ndebele: A People and Their Art. Ivor Powell. NY: Cross River Press, 1995.

African Painted Houses: Basotho Dwellings of Southern Africa. Gary N. Van Wyk. NY: Abrams, 1998

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rbarris/paintedhouses.htm

http://www.africancraftsmarket.com/Ndebele-people.htm

THE PHOTOS ARE HERE

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/83/african_painted_houses



and this is the book to look out for.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Aug 5, '08 nice blog in Egypt so many houses are painted up in this fashion fun I think

delete reply flamingoette wrote on Aug 5, '08 wow!

delete reply ruraldiva wrote on Aug 5, '08 Beautiful post.....I would love to be able to do this on my house.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 5, '08 Hi frank...............just re-read your comments thanks, funny thing about the Caribbean, I have recently been reading about language. Did you know that English is the first Language of UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand AND..................the Caribbean!!. Now for some reason I was very surprised to find the Caribbean amongst those countries. All the other countries I expect English to be the first language........but the Caribbean??, totally unexpected and it doesn't seem to fit at all with the others.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 5, '08 just realised the links don't work, no idea why I've checked them, may be you could just copy paste/ if you want to visit the sites. Sorry about that, and my pictures are easy enough to find they are all in the photo album here on my site.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Aug 5, '08 Thank you very much for posting this. I have had a curiosity about the beautifully painted houses found in the Caribbean Islands and their beginnings. I believe that this would be the place to start my search. Many escaped slaves settled in those islands in the 19th Century.