27-494: Princes Square is a shopping centre on Buchanan Street in central Glasgow , Scotland . It was first designed and built in the 1840s by John Baird and other architects. It was developed in 1988 to a design by Edinburgh architects, the Hugh Martin Partnership. The new five-storey, 10,450-square-metre (112,500 sq ft) retail centre occupies a pre-existing cobbled Princes square dating from 1841, which
54-792: A political prisoner of the South African apartheid government at the time. On his release, Glasgow was the first city in the United Kingdom to honour him with the Freedom of the City, October 1993. Buchanan Street is joined here by St George's-Tron Church and the Glasgow Stock Exchange building, and Royal Exchange Square , which now houses the Gallery of Modern Art . At its north end, meeting Sauchiehall Street, are
81-417: A wealthy Tobacco Lord , plantation owner and former Lord Provost of Glasgow , Andrew Buchanan of Buchanan, Hastie, & Co. He was proprietor of the ground on which it was formed from Argyle Street up to today's Gordon Street. Andrew had died in 1759 and his tobacco empire was inherited by his son James Buchanan of Drumpellier (also twice Lord Provost of Glasgow ). The family made huge losses following
108-548: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Buchanan Street Buchanan Street is one of the main shopping thoroughfares in Glasgow , the largest city in Scotland . It forms the central stretch of Glasgow's famous shopping district with a generally more upmarket range of shops than the neighbouring streets: Argyle Street , and Sauchiehall Street . Buchanan Street was first feued in 1777 and named after
135-598: Is a former railway station in Glasgow . Less well known than the city's other terminus stations – Central , Queen Street and St Enoch – it was situated in the Cowcaddens district to the north-west of Queen Street station and served the north of Scotland . Constructed in 1849 by the Caledonian Railway Company as its main terminus for the city, the original station buildings consisted of supposedly temporary wooden structures, which lasted until
162-732: Is also the second busiest shopping thoroughfare, second only to Oxford Street in London. Glasgow has been recognised for being the second best shopping destination in the United Kingdom, after London, since 2008 . In 2022, plans were announced to demolish the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre, built in 1999, and create new streets and a mixed use development comprising residential, retail and business properties. 55°51′38.46″N 4°15′14.8″W / 55.8606833°N 4.254111°W / 55.8606833; -4.254111 Buchanan Street railway station Buchanan Street station
189-649: Is now entirely pedestrianised, but the streets that cross it (St. Vincent Street, George Street and Bath Street) are not. In the middle, Royal Exchange Square opens out through to Queen Street. Buchanan Street is met by Nelson Mandela Place, which was renamed by the Labour city council from St George's Place, the address of the South African Consulate, as a protest to the African National Congress (ANC) activist Nelson Mandela being
216-401: Is particularly popular with buskers . In May 2002, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled a statue of the late- First Minister of Scotland Donald Dewar at the northern end of the street, the only statue in the street. On the west side across from Buchanan Galleries a further major development of shops and housing opened in 2013 stretching through to West Nile Street at Bath Street. At
243-613: The American Revolution of 1776, losing all their plantations in Virginia . The family members moved into textile manufacturing and industrial expansion. Sale of the land was probably at least in part to offset these initial losses. Palladian villas, similar to those of the 18th century in Argyle Street, Miller Street and Queen Street were erected along with other terraced townhouses from the 1790s onwards, similar to
270-537: The NAAFI was constructed at the intersection of Sauchiehall Street in 1953, but was not a financial success and closed just seven years later – the building becoming a casino for the Stakis organization which it remained until the 1980s. Buchanan Bus Station was opened nearby the top of the street in 1977, at the same time as the street itself was pedestrianised between Bath Street and Argyle Street. The northern section of
297-755: The RIBA Scottish Regional Award for Architecture (1988), the Edinburgh Architectural Association Centenary Medal (1989), and a Civic Trust Award (1989). In 2016, it was voted Scotland's best building of the last 100 years. The original fabric has been protected as a category B listed building since 1970. In February 2024 the Princes Square Shopping Mall was sold for an undisclosed fee to property developers. This article related to Glasgow , Scotland ,
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#1732776827758324-417: The slum clearances of the 1960s in the immediate area had taken away much of the resident population that the station served. The decision was therefore taken by British Railways to move all of the station's services to Queen Street, despite its smaller physical size and capacity constraints. The station buildings were demolished in 1967, and a multi-storey car park and Buchanan Bus Station were built on
351-499: The 1930s. A goods station at the site opened in 1850. Services ran primarily northbound, to Aberdeen , Perth and Stirling and other destinations. The station was earmarked for closure and replacement in the " Bruce Report ", which made proposals for the redevelopment of Glasgow after the Second World War . The plan included replacing Buchanan Street and Queen Street stations with a Glasgow North station on land including
378-623: The Buchanan Galleries and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, which includes the home of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra . Buchanan Street is renowned for its variety in high street shopping, including flagship stores, with rents on the street being as much as £250 per square foot (£2,700 per square metre), making it the sixth most expensive street in the United Kingdom for retail rent, only surpassed by five streets in London. Buchanan Street
405-667: The early 2000s. The Glasgow headquarters of the British Transport Police also occupy part of the site. The 430 yd (390 m) Buchanan Street tunnel that ran from just outside the station to just beyond the Cowlairs Incline at Sighthill (where the lines merge with those emanating from the Queen Street tunnel) still exists, although the route was severed due to the construction of the M8 motorway at
432-603: The east and north of Scotland, and west to Helensburgh, Oban and Fort William, is immediately east of Buchanan Street at the corner of George Square , and the Buchanan Street station on the Glasgow Subway (which also serves Queen Street Station) is underneath the top half of Buchanan Street. The St. Enoch station of the subway is at the foot of Buchanan Street in St Enoch Square . A Glasgow branch of
459-566: The main easterly thoroughfare into neighbouring Townhead . Also in 1999, the entire street was repaved with high quality granite stonework and blue neon lighting. The combination of impressive Victorian architecture and modern urban design won Buchanan Street the Academy of Urbanism "Great Street Award" 2008, beating both O'Connell Street in Dublin and Regent Street / Portland Place , London. The area between Argyle Street and St. Vincent Street
486-649: The new George Square and new Royal Exchange Square . Shops, hotels, banks, offices and clubs soon followed including the Western Club and the Athenaeum, later known as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama , linking through from St George's Place. West of Buchanan Street the classical New Town of Blythswood was started around 1800, developed by William Harley and rising up Blythswood Hill to Blythswood Square . The land around
513-582: The north and northeast of Buchanan Street, heading towards Port Dundas on the canal, became home to Buchanan Street railway station serving northern Scotland, the first railway terminal in the city-centre. Originally owned by the Caledonian Railway , then the London Midland and Scottish Railway and finally British Railways , it closed in 1966 and the area now contains Glasgow Caledonian University . Glasgow Queen Street station , serving
540-490: The northern inter-city routes from Glasgow, whilst the latter also held the advantage of serving the northern electric suburban network as well as having a near-direct interchange with the Glasgow Subway . By contrast, Buchanan Street, with its distant location from the city centre in Cowcaddens, and being located halfway between Cowcaddens and Buchanan Street had no easy or convenient Subway interchange. In addition,
567-457: The site in 1977 . The railway lands to the immediate north of the station were given over to the construction of the new Glasgow College of Technology (now Glasgow Caledonian University ) in 1971 , whilst British Rail itself also constructed a new office block known as Buchanan House on the site in 1975 . It acted as the headquarters of BR's Scottish Region (later ScotRail ), as well as successor organisations Railtrack and Network Rail until
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#1732776827758594-421: The site of Buchanan Street, but many times larger. There was also a similar scheme to replace Central and St Enoch stations with a Glasgow South station, but neither came to fruition. This reprieve proved to be temporary, as the station was closed in 1966 as part of the "Beeching Axe" devised by Richard Beeching . The station largely duplicated the function of the more centrally located Queen Street in serving
621-525: The square, new galleries and stairs give access to the upper storeys. The original sandstone facades were preserved around the modern interior. The centre is adorned with decorative glass, tiling, lighting, timber and metalwork, designed by artists and craftsmen. The writer Bill Bryson referred to Princes Square as "one of the most intelligent pieces of urban renewal". The Hugh Martin Partnership earned several design awards for Princes Square, including
648-532: The start of the street where it meets Argyle Street and St Enoch Square the historic Argyll Arcade which opened in 1827 with sixty-three shops and is now the oldest Victorian shopping centre in Britain, and its near neighbour award-winning Princes Square indoor mall face across to the stores which make up the iconic House of Fraser – which started in Glasgow and also owned Harrods of London. Buchanan Street
675-493: The street underwent significant regeneration in the late 1980s when the demolition of the former NAAFI building at the intersection took place in 1988 to allow for the construction of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall , opening in 1990, and the adjoining Buchanan Galleries shopping mall, which began construction in 1995 and opened in 1999. Both these new buildings spelled the final end for Parliamentary Road –
702-418: The turn of the 1970s, and the two ends are therefore no longer connected together. The south portal can still be found located behind the campus of Glasgow Caledonian University and Buchanan House, but it is now sealed off and all access is prohibited. In 1975, British Rail constructed Buchanan House (later named ScotRail House between January 1985 and April 1994) and Glasgow Caledonian University occupy
729-408: Was reconfigured by enclosing the entire space below a new clear glass domed and vaulted roof. An expansion was completed in summer 1999, extending the centre into Springfield Court and providing a further 1,860 square metres (20,000 sq ft) of retail area and a new retail frontage to Queen Street. The original cellars of the existing buildings were excavated to provide additional space. Inside
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