A DERELICT church designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson is to be brought back to life.
Plans to revive Gorbals church
A DERELICT church designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson is to be brought back to life.
Caledonia Road church was built in 1856 but in the 1950s and 60s the congregation dwindled as neighbouring tenements in Glasgow's Gorbals were demolished.
In 1962 it was closed but vandals moved in causing extensive damage and three years later the building was set on fire.
Various work has been done to stabilise the Category 'A' listed building including filling in the ground floor windows to prevent anyone gaining access.
Despite lying empty for more than 40 years, the Alexander Thomson Society has now drawn up detailed plans which are expected to get the backing of planners tomorrow.
They include creating three galleries, a public study area where Thomson material can be accessed, a cafe bar, meeting rooms and 10 apartments which would be used as tourist accommodation.
The main body of the church will be turned into an open air public space where concerts could be held.
At present, the cost of the work is estimated at around £4.5million and if grants are available, work could start at the end of next year.
Society secretary Sally White said: "At the moment, the church is an 'A' listed ruin and all that remains is the tower, the entrance and the enclosing walls."
The plan involves conserving what remains of the original building to allow it to house the new uses and building a new extension at the side.
Ms White said: "We have tried to have a very sensitive approach to how we deal with the main part of the building.
"We want to conserve what is there but we will not be recreating all the missing details."
"However we are trying to make the whole thing about Thomson and what happens will be within the quality control of the society."
It is hoped the tourist flats, which will be built as part of the scheme, will provide a cash flow for the building's upkeep, meaning the society will not have to find and apply for grants every year.
Neil Baxter, secretary of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, welcomed the move to breathe new life in to the church.
He said: "The building as a shell is tragic - reusing it could be triumphant.
"However its full reuse would really require a careful review of the roads around it - at the moment it is stranded in the middle of a big traffic island and is cut off from the regenerated Gorbals area.
"Personally, I feel it is quite right not to try and do anything that is a pastiche but to have the shell conserved and create something very contemporary.
"Galleries are very difficult to make work, but it is a nice artistic aspiration.
"It is vitally important that what is created should be open to the broadest possible public, and I can think of nothing better than a cafe bar, but the emphasis really needs to be on quality and providing something the people of the regenerated Gorbals deserve."
