In their day, they were innovative and different, bright beacons symbolising a new age and exciting future.
But fashions and tastes quickly changed: now the Brutalist post-war buildings are some of the country’s most disliked – or some may argue underappreciated – buildings.
A new exhibition from Glasgow City Heritage Trust is preparing to spotlight some of the Glasgow's Brutalist buildings, igniting debate about whether it's finally time to learn to love the stark lines and concrete blocks.
It will examine eight of the city's Brutalist gems - some still standing, others long gone - in an effort to challenge our perceptions of the 'love it or loathe it' architectural style.
Accompanying commentary about buildings such as the city's Savoy Centre and the Gallogate Twins high rise flats, will be illustrations which show their crisp lines and attention to detail, revealing features often overlooked at ground level.
It comes as some of the concrete and glass hulks face uncertain futures: often expensive to retro-fit, and with a tendency to be 'unloved' they tend to ignite less passion then their Victorian and Georgian cousins when it comes time to rethink their futures.
But what of Scotland's other modernist buildings?
A few have gone for good: in Edinburgh, the brutalist former Royal Bank of Scotland building in Dundas Street was at odds with its elegant Georgian New Town neighbours.
It was flattened to make way for the £250 million New Town Quarter, along with the equally disliked St James Centre.
Brutalist buildings are often divisive, but it often doesn’t help if the neighbouring buildings are national treasures.
Argyle House in Edinburgh has tough job convincing locals and tourists of its beauty: it sits in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle.
The 1960s’ block in Lady Lawson Street became home of Codebase, the technology incubator and provided the setting for scenes in the Irvine Welsh ‘Crime’ series. It recently changed hands for £38m.
In Leith, Cables Wynd House earned the name ‘the banana flats’ due to the distinctive curved shape.
Built in the early 1960s to replace Victorian slums, they featured in Trainspotting as home to Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson in Irvine Welsh's book for all the wrong reasons.
But by 2017 they were being viewed with fresh appreciation for their brutalist concrete lines and had been given category A-listing.
Read more by Sandra Dick:
One of Scotland’s most divisive brutalist structures is Cumbernauld Town Centre’s “megastructure”, designed to serve more than 50,000 residents decamped to a new town created to replace Glasgow’s slums.
Opened by Princess Margaret in 1967, the interconnected concrete blocks spanned a dual carriageway and incorporated homes, shops, offices, a hotel, ice rink, bowling office and health centre.
Once described by historian Rosemary Wakeman as a "colossal living vessel" intended to "elicit new codes of community behaviour", it also housed police, fire and ambulance stations.
It was radical, but also loathed by some: twice named Scotland’s town centre by the Carbuncle Awards.
Despite calls from some to save it, including from some leading architects, the centre is earmarked to be demolished.
Gradually being lost to the elements, St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, near Helensburgh was built in 1966 and designed by modernist architects Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein for the Archdiocese of Glasgow.
The vision was a distinctive zig-zag design with interiors featuring vaulted ceilings and floating staircases.
Intended as a training college for Roman Catholic priests, it closed just a few years later as numbers entering the priesthood fell.
Since then, there have been fires and vandalism, while the building is being consumed by the woodland in which it sits.
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Serbian textile designer Bernat Klein became famed for his bold patterns, colourful tweeds for Chanel and Dior, and bright knitwear. And the studio he commissioned to be built next to his home, High Sunderland, near Selkirk, reflected his dramatic and innovative approach.
He called on High Sunderland’s architect, Peter Womersley, to create the two-storey rectangular studio that sits in a plinth of inky blue bricks, with huge walls of glass and metal framed balconies.
In recent years the empty category A-Listed building has been subjected to vandalism and water ingress and is currently on the national Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.
Some modernist structures are better loved: Peter Womersley also designed Gala Fairydean Rovers’ concrete cantilevered stand. It has recently had a £1.45m makeover.
Brutal Glasgow, an interactive, multimedia exhibition featuring the work of Glasgow-based illustrator Nebo Peklo (Natalie Tweedie) will be at Glasgow City Heritage Trust, Bell Street, from September 16. Details here
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