The Glasgow Exhibition
interest, and that its generally unattractive and
prosaic appearance is not noticeably mitigated by
the successful experiments of what is acknowledged
to be an enlightened and progressive municipal
government. It is, however, far from so impressing
an unprejudiced visitor, who finds it to be a city of
noble outlines and varied prospects ; but even the
most appreciative stranger could hardly anticipate
that the traditionally scholarly, cold, and severe
aspect of the central and west-central districts
would suddenly blossom so magically into a pic-
turesque combination of gilded dome and towers
and pinnacles such as is to be seen in the Exhi-
bition Buildings in Kelvingrove Park. Occupying
the same site as the 1888 Exhibition, Kelvingrove
lends itself admirably to the purposes for which
it is now used. The flatness of some cities needs
the relief of magnificent distances to achieve the
pictorial effect which here Nature alone has
bestowed. It may be said without fear of contra-
diction that in point of picturesqueness of situation
it would not be possible to select a more charming
enclosure for the purpose of displaying the indus-
tries of the nations than Kelvingrove Park.
Surveying the scene from the elevated terrace in
front of the University, the visitor has in front of
him a combination of natural beauty and artistic
embellishment that at once commands admiration.
The first view of the buildings, from almost any
point of view, is striking and effective, and much
credit is due to the architect, Mr. James Miller,
for recognising the possibilities of the temporary
materials in which he had to work, and for so
skilfully adapting them to his purposes. To the entrance to flint's designed by dykes and
r , , , ., , , tea rooms robertson, architects
great majority 01 those who daily throng the courts
and gardens the graceful beauty of the great hall,
with its long white lines of arcaded wall, and expansion of commercial, industrial, and artistic
splendid peristyle ascending by sweeping curves effort upon which the new century will build its
into the crowning dome, will afford nothing but extending empire.
pleasure and a sense of brightness and gaiety, Considered from a more critical standpoint, the
which is the highest compliment the architect various buildings which compose the Exhibition
and his coadjutors could receive. In contrast may be compared not unfavourably with those
to this temporary home of industry and science, of former Exhibitions elsewhere. The architect
the Fine Art Galleries, the fruit of the last has sought his inspiration chiefly in the rich mine
Exhibition and of further civic and private effort, of Spanish Renaissance architecture, which, with
lift their harmonious lines and towers into the its strongly marked traces of Moorish influence,
broad field of the picture. Over all—over the seems to lend itself admirably to architectural
buildings of a day and those meant for centuries— pageantry in stucco.
there rises, on the further slopes of Gilmorehill, the The most important of the buildings, in point of
University, giving a certain pictorial value to the size, is the Industrial Hall, where the attention is
grounds as a whole. Nothing could be happier arrested by the imposing group of features crowned
than this conjunction of the past with the present, by the gilded dome, with its supporting angle
or the contrast of the course of intellectual pro- towers; here the architectural conception is really
gress, of which the University is the type, with the admirable, and the architect has succeeded in
45
interest, and that its generally unattractive and
prosaic appearance is not noticeably mitigated by
the successful experiments of what is acknowledged
to be an enlightened and progressive municipal
government. It is, however, far from so impressing
an unprejudiced visitor, who finds it to be a city of
noble outlines and varied prospects ; but even the
most appreciative stranger could hardly anticipate
that the traditionally scholarly, cold, and severe
aspect of the central and west-central districts
would suddenly blossom so magically into a pic-
turesque combination of gilded dome and towers
and pinnacles such as is to be seen in the Exhi-
bition Buildings in Kelvingrove Park. Occupying
the same site as the 1888 Exhibition, Kelvingrove
lends itself admirably to the purposes for which
it is now used. The flatness of some cities needs
the relief of magnificent distances to achieve the
pictorial effect which here Nature alone has
bestowed. It may be said without fear of contra-
diction that in point of picturesqueness of situation
it would not be possible to select a more charming
enclosure for the purpose of displaying the indus-
tries of the nations than Kelvingrove Park.
Surveying the scene from the elevated terrace in
front of the University, the visitor has in front of
him a combination of natural beauty and artistic
embellishment that at once commands admiration.
The first view of the buildings, from almost any
point of view, is striking and effective, and much
credit is due to the architect, Mr. James Miller,
for recognising the possibilities of the temporary
materials in which he had to work, and for so
skilfully adapting them to his purposes. To the entrance to flint's designed by dykes and
r , , , ., , , tea rooms robertson, architects
great majority 01 those who daily throng the courts
and gardens the graceful beauty of the great hall,
with its long white lines of arcaded wall, and expansion of commercial, industrial, and artistic
splendid peristyle ascending by sweeping curves effort upon which the new century will build its
into the crowning dome, will afford nothing but extending empire.
pleasure and a sense of brightness and gaiety, Considered from a more critical standpoint, the
which is the highest compliment the architect various buildings which compose the Exhibition
and his coadjutors could receive. In contrast may be compared not unfavourably with those
to this temporary home of industry and science, of former Exhibitions elsewhere. The architect
the Fine Art Galleries, the fruit of the last has sought his inspiration chiefly in the rich mine
Exhibition and of further civic and private effort, of Spanish Renaissance architecture, which, with
lift their harmonious lines and towers into the its strongly marked traces of Moorish influence,
broad field of the picture. Over all—over the seems to lend itself admirably to architectural
buildings of a day and those meant for centuries— pageantry in stucco.
there rises, on the further slopes of Gilmorehill, the The most important of the buildings, in point of
University, giving a certain pictorial value to the size, is the Industrial Hall, where the attention is
grounds as a whole. Nothing could be happier arrested by the imposing group of features crowned
than this conjunction of the past with the present, by the gilded dome, with its supporting angle
or the contrast of the course of intellectual pro- towers; here the architectural conception is really
gress, of which the University is the type, with the admirable, and the architect has succeeded in
45