On a grand building in Bridgeton stands a reminder of the polar opposites that defined Victorian Glasgow - the city's luxuriant wealth and its grinding poverty.

And - for good measure - the link that connects Glasgow with one of Edinburgh's best-loved characters, Greyfriars Bobby.

The poor unfortunates who attended the Buchanan Institute for the "maintenance and instruction of destitute children" were among the most forgotten people in society. In many cases they had nothing - they endured lives of abject drudgery.

It is unlikely they gazed up at the magnificent statue above the school entrance and recognised it as having a 'wow' factor.

Thankfully it is a piece of architecture that has survived the generations. Entitled "Young Scholar in studious pose" it is carved in sandstone and depicts a boy holding a slate and a piece of chalk.

The building stands at the corner of Greenhead Street and McPhail Street, facing Glasgow Green. It was built as a mansion in 1846 for the cotton baron Dugald McPhail.

In 1859 it was converted into the Buchanan Institute thanks to £30,000 left by Glasgow merchant and philanthropist James Buchanan.

It later become the Greenview Special School then Greenhead Special School and latterly St Aiden's School for Older Handicapped Boys.

Now transformed into flats, it still retains the stunning entrance - and goes largely unnoticed as it is set back from the main road.

But it is worth seeking out. It is one of those architectural marvels that can truly be described as a hidden treasure.

The statue was the work of the sculptor William Brodie in 1873. A year earlier he had completed arguably Scotland's most famous statue, that of Greyfriars Bobby on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh.