“HISTORY OF GLASGOW”, CITY PARK
Located within the spacious reception area of the redeveloped W.D. & H.O. Wills factory on Alexandra Parade, this three piece sculptural frieze in cast aluminium by Andy Scott was commission by City Park in 2002 as part of their concept for the conversion of the building to commercial use. It is mounted around the walls of the main lift within the area, and depicts a variety of aspects of the city’s history and culture. Mining, ship-building and engineering are some of the traditional industries represented on the shorter panels of the frieze, with more the modern occupations of computing and research flanking an image of City Park itself in the centre of the middle panel.
Also on this panel, artistic endeavour is included with examples of Art Nouveau and Macintosh design work. Alexander Greek Thomson is recalled in the patterns on column capitals at either end of this panel. Architecture past and present is seen from the Victorian Gothic Revival of Glasgow University, through the Art Deco City Park building, to the outline of the city’s very modern Clyde Auditorium (the Armadillo). Scott’s Heavy Horse stands beside the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, the latter sporting the ever present traffic cone on his head.
© 2005 Gordon Adams
