Oldest house in city reopens after revamp
GLASGOW’S oldest house is set to reopen after a huge £ 1.6 million refurbishment.
Provand’s Lordship, a museum dedicated to the city’s medieval past is to welcome visitors again from today.
The tourist hotspot is one of the city’s only remaining buildings from the 15th century and was used as a manse, then later converted to shops and accommodation.
Duncan Dornan, head of museums and collections for Glasgow Life, said: “This is really a part of allowing the people to value and appreciate the origins of the city.
“It’s really exciting, it was a big project, a long period of work and a lot of investment.
“But this is the last tangible link to how people lived when the city was first established.
“It gives people an authentic sense of what it was like to be here at that time.
“It’s really important for the people of Glasgow and visitors to understand the city. I recommend this to anyone who lives here. To know where we are going, we have to understand where we came from.”
In the 1920s, the Provand’s Lordship Society bought the site to look after for future generations.
Huge names such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William Burrell were part of this group ensuring the house was preserved.
It is filled with era- appropriate furniture, which represent the different uses of the building throughout history.
These were purchased by art collector Burrell.
Martin Ballamy, research and curatorial manager for Glasgow Life museums, said:
“My particular interest is this connection.
“I worked on the Burrell Collection and his biography, so I knew the input he had to the Provand’s Lordship Society and the way he financed what they did. When the society acquired the building, it was just an empty shell.
“He provided the funding, advice and expertise for the group to get all this amazing Scottish furniture from the 15th16th century.
“This is very much a mini Burrell Collection, it shows a different aspect of his interest.”
The building closed in the summer of 2022 so engineers and architects could examine its structure and upgrade any faults.
Scott Abercrombie, conservation architect at John Gilberts Architects: “We found the stone at lower levels was starting to decay, it then that grew into the bigger project, which ended up looking at the whole building more comprehensively.”
Brian Stewart, assistant divisional manager, City Building Glasgow, said: “Once Scott did the design, we had to plan and make it a reality but also keep everybody safe because we are in the city centre. One of the main challenges was making sure the scaffold was there but still keeping the traffic moving.
“Conservation was the main key here. We are trying to keep in with the character of the building, putting it back to its former glory, but it had to be modernised.”