Egyptian Halls
The Egyptian Halls in Union Street was built for the iron founder James Robertson, design commenced in 1870 and it was completed on site in 1872. It was not so much a warehouse as a shopping centre-cum-bazaar, apparently built in emulation of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly.
It was constructed at a time when Union Street was being developed and was evolving along with other streets in the same area as one of the busiest and most important parts of the city. Records mention at the turn of the century that the Egyptian Halls (Nos. 84-100 Union Street) was used for many years for public gatherings, exhibitions, musical performances and was home to 50+ stalls selling goods from around the world. The ground floor units have been used consistently from the beginning until now as shops. The upper floors, however, had suffered numerous changes and neglect in recent years. Past Building Warrant Applications and other documents held at the Glasgow City Council Archives give an idea of some of the past uses for the upper floors, such as: furniture show rooms, Inland Revenue offices, a tailors workshop, and prior to its vacancy as a Chinese Restaurant.
Whilst the shops remain in use, the upper floors have now been vacant for 39 years. Planning permission has been granted on numerous occasions for proposals to convert the building into a hotel, but these have stalled due to a lack of available public funding to support a commercial development.
Egyptian Halls was “the great purchasing emporium of the city for all kinds of useful, ornamental and fancy articles and goods” as well as serving a myriad of cultural functions. But it is its architectural significance that makes it internationally valuable. A contemporary of Thomson’s described the elevation as the ‘noblest in Europe’. Endless debate can be had around the sources of inspiration for it, the one thing that is inarguable is that its overall composition transcends precedent to achieve something truly original.
Andor Gomme noted: “Thomson’s series of warehouse and office buildings is the greatest contribution made by a single architect to the centre of the city” and Egyptian Halls is the finest, most complex and most elaborate of them all. And as the architectural press noted at the time:
"We doubt if its equal, for originality, grandeur of treatment, or imposing effect, could be found in any city.”
The building is currently in a state of significant decay and is a victim of a myriad of ownership issues over the decades. The building was scaffolded to the front elevation over ten years ago to allow repair works to be undertaken, however no major repairs project has ever taken place. Glasgow City Council is considering serving a Defective Building Notice with a view to compelling the owner to carry out repairs to the front elevation. The owner has not provided proposals which would satisfy the Council that they will voluntarily undertake those repairs. Therefore, it is likely that a Defective Buildings Notice, requiring those works be carried out, will be served on the owner soon.
The owner has indicated that they will legally challenge any enforcement orders issued by GCC, and does not intend to finance repair works until a future use for the building has been identified. However, the owner carries out basic ongoing maintenance and has installed a temporary felt roof which arrested water ingress into the building.
The upper floors of the building have been unheated for nearly 40 years, and suffered from neglect for a significant portion of that time meaning that the interiors are in understandably poor condition - although, original column capitals, plasterwork, paintwork and other interior details survive. The decay is most notable on the top most floor where water ingress has started to lead to structural decay of the concrete slab and cast iron structure.
An independent structural assessment has been carried out within the last six months by a conservation-accredited structural engineer who has found the buildings’s structural integrity to remain intact, and whilst remedial works are required, the buildings structure provides no major barrier to the future use of the building.
“Egyptian Halls is a work of imaginative genius by one of the greatest minds in Scottish architecture, and of great importance to the architectural and social history of Glasgow.” Gavin Stamp, 2017