ON FRIDAY morning in Glasgow I witnessed two busy young men moving two theatre seats out of the main entrance of the Old Atheneum theatre on Buchanan Street and into a van. The chairs were in a collapsed state but the painted gold of the metal frames and the deep red of the velvet seats instantly caught my eye.
I was aware that the Old Atheneum, once home to the RSAMD, was being "redeveloped", but unsure as to why on earth such a wonderful theatre and time capsule should become yet another casualty of Glasgow's complicit activities for the sake of new development. A young site worker informed me that the building was being made into shops. Standing opposite the horrendous Buchanan Galleries, I failed to see the need.
Surely serious questions need to be asked when a city permits its historic buildings to be mutilated or flattened on such a regular basis. Remember the George Hotel on Buchanan Street? Legend has it that comedy duo Laurel and Hardy once stayed there. Today it's a Virgin Megastore. The abandoned Odeon cinema on Renfield Street: apparently destined to become office space. The old church that once stood on Church Street, Partick, with its precious stained-glass windows: cruelly demolished to accommodate flats. Worst of all, the loss of the dramatic view west along the Clyde to the huge grain stores, so majestic as the sun set behind them, making you feel proud to live in a city with such a rich and important maritime past: reduced to a pile of rubble. - Michael Prince, Dunstan House, Culbowie Road, Buchlyvie.
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