You’re having a giraffe, are you not?
No, the Shettleston Housing Association (SHA) certainly was not.
Its members were very clear they had to do “something memorable” to welcome folks into the area.
So they commissioned pupils at Eastbank Academy to come up with a plan to cover the gable end of the tenements at 577 Shettleston Road.
Working with the business, Art Pistol, they have created a giraffe stretching the height of the four-storey building.
As it stands, it is dining off some vegetation seemingly growing out of the tenement brickwork.
It all came to life over the Glasgow Fair Weekend in 2014.
Its title is “You’re having a giraffe” and is a nod to the great humour of Glasgow.
That line reminds me of a less funny place where they say “you’ll have had your tea” and they really mean it.
So what was there before the giraffe?
For years, the “gushet” as it was known locally, marked the entry point to Shettleston from the west and it was very much regarded as an eyesore.
It was dominated by a former municipal lamp-lighting depot that had fallen into some sorry state of disrepair.
Locals and visitors alike agreed that it gave a very bad first impression of Shettleston and something had to be done.
The SHA originally thought to restore the building but in the end the decision was taken to demolish it, thus making the gable end itself the new frontier.
The trams are no longer there, but there’s every opportunity for you to say “come oan, giraffe!”
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