9/28: Glasgow: A Walk through Time in the Tenement House

Earlier that day, Steven and I explored the downtown core of Glasgow before dropping in at the Tenement House located at 145 Buccleuch Street. We couldn't resist visiting the perfectly preserved home from the 1930s after learning it was described as a time-warp experience! It's important to realize a tenement in Glasgow had an altogether meaning from our negative associations of one in North America. It wasn't a slum but the traditional form of urban housing in Scotland. It was a stone building with two or more floors, each floor having one or more separate residences that shared the common entrance and stairway. Each individual flat or apartment within a tenement block was called a 'tenement house.'

Let me tell you it was rather strange after walking up a flight of stairs, then ringing the doorbell to gain entry to the apartment aka museum! 

The survival of the Tenement House and its collection was largely thanks to the lifestyle of Miss Agnes Toward. She occasionally had her house decorated and, in 1960, had electric lights installed but she made no other major changes. She also held onto all sorts of other information, including household bills, recipes, and newspaper clippings as well as personal items, such as clothes, letters, postcards, and photos. Through those items, visitors have been able to build up a picture of Miss Toward and life at that time. 

After Miss Toward died, the property and its collection were sold to the National Trust for Scotland so it could be preserved as part of the nation's heritage. Before opening the property to visitors in 1983, the Trust carried out some restoration work including re-installing the gas lighting and reproducing some of the original wall coverings from 1892 that had been covered over by later re-decorations. The vast majority of the contents in the house were original. 

Miss Toward moved into the house with her mother in the summer of 1911 and lived there for 54 years. She was born in nearby Renfrew in 1886. Her father died when she was only three years old and her two sisters died in infancy. She was brought up by her mother, also called Agnes, who made a living as a dressmaker and taking in lodgers. 

Miss Toward, who never married, trained to become a shorthand typist. She continued to live alone in the house when her mother died in 1939. She died in 1975 after spending ten years in a hospital. 

During the time Miss Toward and her mother lived there, owning property was very rare and most residents paid rent to the owner of the block. Rent included building maintenance and light. Each landing in the tenement had a single gas lamp that was lit nightly by the lamplighter, known as the leerie.

Many Glasgow tenements were managed by factors, acting as owners' agents. Their main task was to collect rent but they were also responsible for overseeing property maintenance. Rents increased in line with increases in building and mortgage costs and almost doubled between 1861 and 1911. The Rent Restrictions Act passed in 1915 helped to prevent fluctuating rates.

The condition and cleanliness of the tenement close were seen to reflect the respectability of its residents. A clean close showed that it was inhabited by decent, respectable people. That sounded like a homeowners' association dream!

There was a strict schedule for stair cleaning and failure to comply could result in a fine, not to mention a tarnished reputation. Stairs were swept daily and cleaned at least weekly. In working-class areas, many women drew patterned borders in red or white pipeclay down the sides of the stairs to make them appear more attractive. The closed within wealthier tenements were adorned with ceramic or wally tiles and therefore known as 'wally closes.'

The tenement had a private wash house in the 'backcourt' or yard where tenants followed a laundry schedule. Residents of working-class tenements used public wash houses known as 'steamies.' Every backcourt had a midden or trash can which was emptied weekly by the dustmen, also known as 'midden men' or 'scaffies.'

In the early 1900s, coal was the main fuel used in Glasgow for fires, cooking, lighting and heating water. Gas lamps (using coal gas) were the main form of lighting as most homes didn't have electric lighting until the late 1920s. Miss Toward didn't install it until 1960. Coal was kept in a wooden 'bunker' in the kitchen or hall and was delivered by the coal man who called out 'coal' as he drove through the streets. 

If residents needed a delivery, they would display a special card in their window. The coal man then carried sacks of coal up the stairs and emptied the contents into the bunker. In the days of coal fires, it was important to have the chimneys swept regularly to avoid the risk of fire. The chimney sweep would cover the hearth with a large bag to catch the soot and then climb onto the roof and drop a brush on a weighted rope down the chimney.

Diets were far less varied in the first half of the 20th century than today. Most meals were made from scratch at home and there were no supermarkets so people mainly used their local shops. Because of a lack of refrigeration, shopping would be almost a daily activity. Miss Toward had an account with her local butcher but did most of her shopping at the local co-op. Milk was delivered in metal cans to residents. It was emptied into a jug and the can was hung out for the milk boys to collect. 

In the days before television, people largely entertained themselves at home with reading, letter-writing, and hobbies. We read that Miss Toward enjoyed baking and cooking as well as listening to the wireless or radio as we know it! In Miss Toward's day, Glasgow was home to a wide variety of theaters, cinemas, music halls and dance halls. In the 1950s, the city was described in a New York magazine as the 'most theater-minded city in Britain.' Miss Toward enjoyed attending the theater and collecting programs.

Glasgow at war: Miss Toward lived through a time of great change, including two world wars. Bombs were dropped in the city during the Battle of Britain in 1940 and air raids were carried out on industrial areas in 1941. Streets were devastated, fires raged and lives were lost. Ration books were issued for food and clothing and everyone had a gas mask and an identity card that they were required to carry with them at all times. The constant threat of air raids meant there was little street lighting, and homes were fitted with blackout curtains. People living in cities were encouraged to build air-raid shelters and many children were evacuated to rural areas for their safety. 

Middle-Class Tenements: Tenement House was a typical middle-class Glasgow home with four rooms: bedroom, parlor, kitchen and bathroom. By the standards of the day, having an indoor bathroom would have been considered a luxury. Residents within a tenement block such as this would have been mainly professionals working in the city. Although compact, compared to the single-end tenements, this was a very comfortable home and could accommodate a large family. Larger tenements, with five or more rooms, were built for more affluent residents of the city.  

On the bathroom shelf were canisters of licorice powder, a laxative!

Many working-class tenements had only two rooms, known as a 'room and kitchen' or one room, a 'single-end.' A single-end was essentially a kitchen with a recessed bed but often housed a large family. In some poorer areas, facilities were overcrowded and water and sewage facilities were poor. A single room could be shared by as many as eight family members, with 30 residents sharing a toilet. In one tenement near Glasgow, over 500 people were found living in one close!

I should never complain again about the size of some of our hotel rooms when we travel after opening up the door off the parlor and noticing the bed was inside it!

The extra bedroom:

Though Miss Toward lived an ordinary life, the survival of her largely unmodified home and its contents left an extraordinary record of life in Glasgow in the early 20th century. How fortunate we were that the National Trust had done such an excellent job of maintaining the period piece so we could learn about not only one person's life but life for other Glaswegians for such a long period of time!

Next post: A scenic drive up to Oban through the Kilmartin Glen.

In between finally finishing these posts on our trip last fall to Ireland and the UK, I am also writing posts on our far shorter trip to what turned out to be just Sri Lanka and southern India. You can read about our time at the former royal Peradeniya Gardens in Kandy, Sri Lanka here:
https://bergersadventures8.blogspot.com/2020/04/36-kandys-peradeniya-botanical-gardens.html

Posted on April 19th, 2010, from a lovely springtime day at last in Denver. May you and your families be healthy and stay safe during this pandemic.