Book charts Glasgow’s ‘hidden history’ ahead of new chapter for area

Graeme Smith and HFD Property Group’s MD, Stephen Lewis, on the top of 177 Bothwell Street

A new book vows to tell the ‘secret story’ of one of Glasgow’s most beautiful quarters and the characters who helped create some of the city’s best loved institutions.

Glasgow’s Blythswood, written by author and historian Graeme Smith, explores the developments of Blythswood Hill, Blythswood Square and the New Town of Blythswood. The book charts the earliest days of the developments which transformed the area and created central Blythswood and Garnethill, with its lost pleasure gardens, the first indoor public baths in Scotland and the first hygienic dairy in Europe.

The book also charts the turns in fortune that followed, involving developers such as James Scott, who formed Bothwell Street and ensured the creation of Kelvingrove Park and Queen’s Dock on the Clyde, which today stands as the Scottish Exhibition campus.

The book was launched at HFD Group’s 177 Bothwell Street, which will become Glasgow’s largest single office building when it completes later this year.

“It’s a story I have wanted to tell for some time,” said Graeme Smith, “and I am delighted that HFD Group agreed to host the launch at 177 Bothwell Street. It’s fitting that a building which is the cornerstone of a new chapter in the area’s history hosts this celebration of the past.

“The story of Blythswood has never been told before and is an incredibly interesting tale, one which tells of Glasgow’s wider history and its earliest days and of people who played central roles in making the city what it is today.”

Stephen Lewis, MD of HFD Property Group, added, “We were thrilled to host the launch of Glasgow’s Blythswood at 177 Bothwell Street. We are acutely aware of the area’s importance to the city’s history and that has helped inform not only what we have set out to do at 177 Bothwell Street, but across our various developments in Glasgow city centre.”